


Avoid the Unhappy Ending

by neopuff



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:42:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27108943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neopuff/pseuds/neopuff
Summary: Goldie comes to town to see Scrooge. Instead, she somehow manages to run into literally everyone else.(tags are in order of when characters appear)
Relationships: Bentina Beakley & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Della Duck & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Dewey Duck & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Donald Duck & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Duckworth (Disney) & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Gyro Gearloose & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Huey Duck & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Launchpad McQuack & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Webby Vanderquack, Lena (Disney: Ducktales) & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Louie Duck & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Scrooge McDuck/"Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt, Webby Vanderquack & "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt
Comments: 127
Kudos: 238





	1. The Archives

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write some Goldie x Everyone one-on-one interactions cuz that's what I want for her. So, so much.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goldie is looking for Scrooge, instead she runs into someone she hasn't spoken to in decades.

It was a Saturday afternoon. Normally she wouldn’t be in Duckburg, but she was passing through on her way back north and thought a little stop could be nice. Just pop in and say hello, maybe stay for a swim in the money bin or a sleepover if Scrooge asked. He wouldn’t ask, but she was always up for it.

Security at the bin was the same as usual. It always felt like there was a gap just for her - though obviously Scrooge wouldn’t be foolish enough as to leave his guard down for a professional thief. That being said, she was in his office quicker than usual, and a brief scan of the room told her she was alone.

“Huh,” Goldie breathed out, wiping her hand along his desk and taking a seat in his big chair. She spun around a few times, then stopped and looked at the different drawers. They were all locked, which didn’t change anything for her, but she knew this desk was mostly paperwork. Nothing of note, nothing of interest. Even a spare few dollar bills wasn’t worth the effort.

She stood up and walked over to the vault. It was closed, but perhaps Scrooge went for a more...private swim. That’d be fun to interrupt (and/or join in on). Her left shoulder made a terrible cracking sound as she slowly opened the door and she groaned a bit, popped her head in, and listened closely.

No sounds whatsoever.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Goldie groaned, rubbing at her shoulder and stepping fully into the vault. She looked up and down, left and right, but there was clearly no Scrooge to be found.

She sighed and closed the vault door on her way out in a sudden burst of politeness. Alright. Often Scrooge spent his Saturday afternoons catching up on work that he missed during adventures out of town. Apparently this was not one of those Saturday afternoons. Her shoulder was still a little sore, so Goldie decided to exit the normal way. Maybe someone would see her and call Scrooge to let him know. That’d be fine with her, she didn’t want to spend the whole day just _looking_ for him.

But she had no such luck as it seemed the majority of his administrative employees weren’t working on a weekend. Made sense. Goldie poked her head into every other room to see if Scrooge was in a meeting or doing something or _whatever_ , but he just...wasn’t there! It was agitating. Just a little bit.

The next door she spied was to the Archives. Goldie spent very little time in this room, since she had a pretty decent memory and didn’t need a piece of paper to remind her what year something happened in. Scrooge loved to talk about himself and his accomplishments, so there was rarely anything she needed to know that she didn’t already.

With a shrug, she entered the room anyway, considering the possibility that Scrooge could just be reading through old files like the old fogey he was. The door creaked loudly and almost immediately, Goldie made eye contact with the only other person there.

“What the…”

Goldie frowned as the other woman spoke and started walking towards her. This was not someone she’d had to interact with in a long time.

“Goldie O’Gilt, is that you?”

“Ah...Quackfaster. Nice to see you,” Goldie responded with a characteristic smirk. “Still working as Scrooge’s secretary, then?”

Quackfaster snorted and looked down at Goldie’s hands, clearly checking for stolen items. “Archivist. But you already knew that.”

“I did.”

Emily didn’t see anything on Goldie, and nothing near her seemed to be missing, so she turned around and headed back to her cart. “What are you doing here, O’Gilt? I know there’s nothing in this room you’d want to take.”

Goldie glided a finger against one of the shelves and cringed at the amount of dust that accumulated so quickly. “You can’t know that for sure.”

Her response was just a brief glare before she went back to filing.

“Alright, yeah,” Goldie stepped a bit closer, relishing in the way that Quackfaster flinched and reached for the sword that Goldie knew she had on her. “I’m just looking for Scrooge. Do you know where he is?”

“He’s not here,” Quackfaster said as she struggled to shove a certain book into a spot that was a little high up for her. “I assume, anyway. I haven’t seen him.”

Goldie rolled her eyes before reaching over and grabbing the book, getting on her tip-toes and putting it in its place. “Don’t you know his schedule, _Secretary?_ ”

“Archivists don’t keep schedules, _Thief,_ ” she scoffed. “Even if I knew where he was, I wouldn’t tell you. So have fun walking around town like a lovesick puppy.”

“ _Excuse me?_ ” Goldie couldn’t contain her offense at the simile and proceeded to knock over Quackfaster’s cart of books before rushing out - leaving a loud crash and a pile of old papers in her wake.

Emily sighed and looked down at the pile. At her next salary meeting, she was _definitely_ bringing this up.

Goldie, on the other hand, was back to business. That conversation had been entirely unhelpful and mostly unpleasant and _very_ incorrect. Lovesick puppy? What was she, a teenager? She just wanted to see Scrooge so she could brag about her latest exploits - remind him of how nice it is to not be boggled down by family...maybe get some food. Sure, she loved him, but she wasn’t _sick_ over him. She wasn’t some kid in a bad romantic comedy. She was _Goldie O’Gilt!_

Quackfaster told her Scrooge wasn’t around, but she didn’t really know. And then, even she had, she might’ve told Goldie the opposite of the truth. There were a lot of angles to consider, as there usually was. So Goldie did what any sharp shooter would do - she decided to check out the last place in the Money Bin that Scrooge might be...the weird underwater lab.

  



	2. The Lab & The Limo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goldie continues her search for Scrooge, running into some interesting faces on the way.

She didn’t normally take elevators. They weren’t safe or secure. She could still remember when elevators first became a common thing...people became so reliant on them so quickly.

This was all she could think about in the slow, _slow_ ride down to the lab where she was desperately hoping she’d find Scrooge. It’d be a shame to find out this trip to the Money Bin was a waste. If he wasn’t down here, she’d be stealing something for sure.

The doors opened and she was welcomed by two incredulous stares. She crossed her arms and stuck out her hip, staring back at them.

The two men looked at one another and then back at her.

“I don’t have time for this. Inter- er, _Employee!_ Go!”

“Yes, Sir!”

Goldie stepped out of the elevator and looked around to see a distinct lack of Scrooge McDuck. She frowned. The shy-looking duck waddled up to her and smiled.

“Hi there! Welcome to Dr. Gearloose’s lab!” Fenton reached out a hand. “What can we do for you?”

She looked down at his hand and then back up at his face. “You seem familiar,” she said cautiously, grabbing his hand with two fingers and giving him a single shake before letting go. “...were you ever a Sheriff?”

“No, ma’am!” He didn’t give any sort of negative reaction to her odd question. “But mi mama is a police officer, so that’s close! Sort of!”

“Mama…” Goldie paused and put a hand to her beak in thought. “Oh! Are you Cabrera’s boy?”

“Wh…” Fenton blinked several times in surprise. “You know her?”

“You could say that,” Goldie said smugly. “We had a run-in a little over two decades ago. I remember you being much smaller.”

Fenton scrunched his face and considered her words, realizing after not long that this was someone on the _other_ side of the law. “Um…”

She strode past him and towards the other man she’d seen earlier. “Is Scrooge here?”

Gyro sighed as loudly as possible before turning around to point in her face. “ _Why_ would Mr. McDuck be here? This is a _scientific_ laboratory, not a bin filled with coins.”

He realized briefly after speaking that this woman was familiar - familiar, as in, he’d met her just a few months ago for him and many _many_ decades ago for her. Considering the recent controversies regarding unsanctioned time travel, Gyro started to sweat.

“Huh.” Goldie eyed him carefully. “You look familiar, too.”

“That’s not possible,” he said quickly. “I’ve never-”

“Gearloose, right? Any relation to Ratchet?”

He paused. “Uh...my grandfather?”

Goldie smacked him on his back. “I knew it! You’re his spitting image, you know that?” She laughed and continued to look around the room on the off chance that Scrooge was purposefully hiding from her. Why would he be? Who knows. Scrooge was a mystery sometimes. “Damn, I guess I owe Scroogey some money.”

“Why’s that?” Fenton asked, coming closer when he determined the intruder wasn’t a danger to the lab.

“Well, I bet Ratchet would die a virgin. Seems I lost.”

Fenton blushed and Gyro grumbled, turning back to his work, which Goldie just realized was _also_ quite a bit familiar.

“Hey, I know this robot, too. This whole lab is turning into a trip down memory lane.”

“Hi! I’m Boyd!”

“Yes, I remember that,” she said with her eyes on the exit. “I’m guessing you’re not determined to kill anymore?”

Gyro glared at her and Boyd just clapped a hand to his cheek, producing a metal clang. “Aw geez, no I’m not! I’m sorry if you got hurt at Doofus’ party, Miss O’Gilt.”

Goldie shrugged and looked back at Fenton, who almost looked like he had a light bulb over his head. Or, well, actually. He _did_ have a light bulb over his head. And then it jumped down onto his shoulder.

“O'Gilt! As in... _Goldie O’Gilt?!_ ”

“The one and only.” 

She didn’t react as the light bulb jumped from him to her and then from her to the grumpy scientist behind her. She started to walk towards the door when she decided she’d made a mistake in coming here.

“You’re Mr. McDuck’s longtime, ah, paramour, one might say?” Fenton asked as he followed.

“One might.” She had to admit that it was interesting to know how Scrooge described her to his coworkers, but something told her that he’d _never_ called her that.

“Then, from what I’ve read, you’re well over 100 years old, and I have never had the opportunity to ask Mr. McDuck about that, but I’m _deeply fascinated!_ ” 

He started rambling, following Goldie the entire way to the elevator, and even stepping inside the elevator with her. She frowned deeply at this fact, and then there was the giant stone horse thing with Scrooge’s head clopping its way towards them that she very much wanted to get away from.

The talkative guy didn’t seem frightened by it, though - in fact, he waved at it as he continued to rant about chronological physics or whatever the hell was happening. 

Not wanting to deal with this anymore, Goldie took this opportunity to grab Fenton back the back of his shirt and toss him towards the statue thing - repeatedly pressing the _Close Door_ button on the elevator as fast as possible.

Fenton just squeaked and Manny caught him without a problem. “Hm...I guess I’ll have to save my questions for next time!”

Gyro barked at him from the other side of the lab. “There won’t _be_ a next time! This lab needs to be more secure!”

Goldie breathed out a sigh of relief as the elevator dinged and she was back to being surrounded by no one and nobody. The Bin was still mostly empty and she was very happy with that. Though now she’d have to make her way over to the manor - where she was more likely to run into _Bentina._ After their last interaction, she knew it wouldn’t go well and didn’t want to deal with it. She’d just have to do her best to avoid the kitchen.

She headed out the front door, but on spotting a security camera, Goldie smirked and looked around for something to take. She spotted a few umbrellas sitting in a holder by the door, and shrugged. Something was better than nothing. Plus, it was getting kind of cloudy out there. So she grabbed the nicest looking one and stepped outside.

The clouds didn’t seem as thick once she left the building, but whatever. The umbrella was going to be hers either way. And now she had an annoying journey to the manor - normally she’d find a faster way over there, but the streets were pretty empty and she didn’t have any of her fancier gear on-hand.

So: walking it was.

Her knees started to hurt after only a minute. The road she was on was _not_ made for feet, it was made for wheels! Why didn’t Gearloose or Cabrera or Quackfaster have a car she could steal? Were they all using public transit? Did Scrooge pay _any_ of his employees well enough to afford a car?

Just as all these complaints were charging through her brain, Goldie was cut off by the sudden sight of a familiar limo coming up towards her. She couldn’t contain the big smile on her face as she stepped in front of it - bringing the car to a halt.

She brushed invisible dirt off her pants and posed - leaning gracefully on the umbrella - in anticipation of Scrooge coming out to greet her.

Instead, a tall, muscular man stepped out of the driver’s seat and rushed towards her.

“Whoa! I almost hit you!”

Goldie sighed and stood up straight. “Is Scrooge with you?”

“Huh? No, he-” Launchpad pouted as he looked down at her, clearly dealing with the gears in his head turning a little faster than usual as they deciphered the data in front of him. “Oh, man! You're Mrs. McDuck!”

“Mrs....” Goldie looked like she’d bitten into a lemon. “I’m not -”

“I was just on my way to visit Fenton, Mrs. McD! But I could take you back to the manor instead, if you want!” He took off his hat and held it to his chest, looking a little nervous. “Please don’t be mad I almost hit you. It wasn’t that bad!”

“You _didn’t-!_ I’m not…” Goldie was so confused by his assumptions that she didn’t even know where to start. But...a good con always knew where the benefits began. “...alright. Sure. Fine. _Mrs. McDuck_ won’t say anything to Scrooge if you drive me back to the manor and not say a word about this to anyone. Does that work for you?”

“Oh, yes ma’am!” Launchpad quickly stepped back and opened up the back door for her so she could slide in. He closed the door on her foot and she scowled - leading to another slew of apologies before he closed the door for real.

She sighed and looked out the car window, feeling like she’d lost her touch. Usually she just knew where Scrooge was. Right away, she was always able to find him. And this was going to be one of those days where she ran around like a chicken without its head.

Launchpad was humming along to a tune on the radio, and Goldie felt the urge to have him change it to something more her style. But she wasn’t here to put on a show. She needed to find something else to focus on.

“Who told you to call me Mrs. McDuck?”

The redhead lowered the radio volume and looked at her in the mirror. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” She shuffled a bit in her seat. “Did Scrooge tell you to call me that?”

There was quiet in the car for a minute as Launchpad seemed to be thinking about her question. She was ready to tell him to forget it when he finally spoke up again.

“I don’t remember! But I don’t think so,” he said with a nod. “Did I do something wrong? Do you still use your maiden name? Or should I call you something else?”

Goldie didn’t respond to that as she looked down at the seat next to her and noticed a stray white feather. She reached down and picked it up, realizing immediately that it was Scrooge’s. A hint of an embarrassed blush came to her cheeks as she tossed the feather back down - being able to recognize the smell of Scrooge on a _single_ _feather_ was ridiculous.

“No,” she finally said, deciding that the unfamiliar warmth spreading through her chest was kind of...nice. “That’s fine.”

  


  



	3. The Pool & The Bedroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goldie makes her way into the manor.

The conversation with Launchpad had faded and turned to him singing along to the radio once again, and Goldie was perfectly content with that. Or at least she found it tolerable. Him thinking she and Scrooge were married was giving her a strange headache, but she couldn't deny it was definitely a benefit...pretending to be Mrs. McDuck was never at the top of her con list, but maybe she’d consider it in the future.

Didn’t want to lead Scrooge on too much, though. He might get excited if he caught wind. Or maybe he’d be pissed. Hmm...

They arrived after a short drive and Launchpad rushed to open the door for her. Goldie was going to comment on the surprising lack of crashing that happened, but she turned around and saw several bushes, trees, lamp posts, and small animals attached to the back of the vehicle. He had that radio volume set _way_ too loud for her not to notice any of that.

“Thanks, L…” she started to say, until realizing she didn’t know this man’s name. She knew it began with an L! That was pretty good! “...Lunchbag?”

Launchpad just smiled and saluted at her. “You’re welcome, Ma’am! Anytime!”

She nodded and headed towards the front door, satisfied that she got his name right. It was an odd name, but surely he would’ve corrected her had she been wrong. The closer she got to the door, the more she could see inside the front window, and the more that made one thing clear:

Bentina was _right. There._

Goldie froze in her walk and turned her head around to see if her hunky young escort was still watching. He was - though if she was being honest he didn’t look like he was processing much of anything. There was a butterfly fluttering near him that seemed to capture most of his attention. In an effort to avoid the resident bodyguard, Goldie turned to the left and started her short trek around the side of the manor. It was easier to get up to Scrooge’s room without arousing suspicion if she went from the side.

The walk was longer than she remembered - or maybe she was just getting too old - and Goldie turned the corner to see Donald’s familiar houseboat sitting in the pool. She’d forgotten about this odd little arrangement he had with Scrooge. The old miser probably didn’t even share his electricity with the poor kid.

“Goldie?"

She twisted her head to the side to see Donald watering some plants in the back. Internally, Goldie was screeching at herself. She was supposed to be a stealthy thief! She’d broken into the manor a thousand times, completely undetected! Past bodyguards and children and Scrooge himself! And now she’d been seen almost immediately? Was she really getting that old? She needed to visit Ronguay again.

Externally, she put a hand on her hip and smirked. “Donnie!”

Donald tossed his hose to the side and walked over. “What are you doing here?”

Goldie took a second to play his words in her head and make sure she understood him correctly. After three and a half decades, she was definitely getting a hang of his unique way of speaking. “Just visiting your uncle. Same old, same old.”

“Uh-huh.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “What are you gonna steal this time? Another map?”

She brought a hand to her chest in feigned offense. “Why, Donald, I can’t believe you think so little of me! Your dear Aunt Goldie was just in the neighborhood and thought to stop by!”

He scoffed and pointed to her side. “And where’d you get that umbrella from?”

Goldie looked down. Oh. She’d completely forgotten about the umbrella - kind of thought she’d left it in the limo. “Good question,” she said, tossing it behind her and ignoring the loud crash. “But it doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“I...guess not?” Donald frowned. “If you’re here to see Scrooge, why’d you come to the pool? He’s usually in his room around now.”

“Is that so?” Goldie looked up at the window she knew connected to just that spot. “I thought he’d be at the Bin, now I'm just trying to avoid Beakley. I’m sure you understand.”

Donald grimaced. “Yeah....she’ll kill you if she sees you.”

“I’m counting on it,” Goldie laughed and grabbed a grappling hook out of her endless bag. She tossed it up to the window with ease. “Take care of yourself, alright?”

“Wait!”

She didn’t move and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Donald sheepishly rubbed his arm. “I...well... _look_. Scrooge was really happy after Florida.”

“Uh-huh.”

“ _Really_ happy, Goldie.” Donald waved his hands around for emphasis. “So please don’t...just run off with his money, or whatever you’re planning.”

Goldie blinked a few times and turned away from Donald, smiling sadly. She let out a short laugh and leaned over to pat him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, Donnie. I was pretty happy after Florida, too.”

Donald didn’t get a chance to respond before Goldie launched herself up towards Scrooge’s bedroom. He supposed he didn’t have that much more to say.

Undoing the latch on Scrooge’s bedroom window was as easy as breathing - she’d done it so many times it wasn’t even funny. A quick pop and up it went - so she crawled and crouched, landing on the floor unfortunately not as gracefully as usual. Her poor knees screamed at her.

She stood up with a smile and scanned the room, ready to hear some complaints in a thick Scottish accent.

There were no such complaints.

Instead, she was alone. _Still._ This was getting to be too frustrating. But after putting in this much effort, it wasn’t like she could just give up. She’d spoken to too many people already, and they’d tell Scrooge, and then Scrooge would be able to hold that over her for years to come.

She glanced over at his desk. They’d had hundreds of conversations over the years with him sitting at his desk and her standing nearby or leaning on the windowsill or sitting on his bed. Not often did she have an opportunity to sit and go through it herself.

And so she did. Goldie sunk into the chair and just sat there for a minute without moving, basking in some memories. She was starting to understand why Scrooge did it so often. Every scratch or nick on the surface of this desk could be tied back to a specific moment - several of which Goldie remembered _exactly_ the night they were from. Good times.

She leaned forward and rubbed circles around one particular dent that was bugging at the corner of her memories. Ah, well. She had a good memory, but she also had 150 years worth of things to remember. No one was perfect.

Her finger trailed down the wood and over the side, where she landed on one of the drawer handles. A small tug and her suspicions were confirmed - _locked._ After a thorough check, it seemed all of the drawers were locked. Nothing that she couldn’t handle, of course.

She reached into her hair to grab a bobby pin when there was a sudden aggravating chill behind her. Her spine tingled and she waited only a moment before ducking down and grabbing the chair, flipping it over and holding it in front of her like a shield.

She was greeted by a very unexpected sight.

“...Duckworth?”

“Miss O’Gilt,” the floating, translucent figure said. “Nice to see you again.”

“You’re, um…” She cautiously put the chair down and walked closer to him, sticking out her hand and swishing it through his middle. “...a ghost?"

“Observant as always.” He floated through her, stopping between the thief and the desk that he knew Mr. McDuck wouldn’t want her meddling through. “Are you looking for something?”

“Hmmm.” She took note of where he chose to float, and now she _definitely_ wanted to see whatever was in that desk. “Won’t know until I see it.”

Goldie walked back towards the desk and ignored Duckworth when he tried to get in her way again.

“How exactly are you going to stop me? You’re a _ghost._ ”

In only a second, she watched as Duckworth transformed from a mild mannered British dog into a gigantic ferocious demonic figure - who immediately leaned down into her face and lurched his fingers into her arms.

She could feel him, very clearly.

“Alright, alright, I’m convinced!” She held up her hands in faux-surrender as he turned back to normal. She’d just come back here later and look again, when there wasn’t a terrifying pseudo-poltergeist hanging around. “So is this what you do now? Hang around and scare off beautiful thieves?”

He rolled his eyes. “I was brought back only recently and was bored silly in the afterlife. Cleaning up after Mr. McDuck gives me something to do, especially considering how _little_ Mrs. Beakley does.”

“Oh?” Goldie put a hand to her beak. “And I’m sure you’ve said as much to her.”

“As often as possible.”

“I would pay to see her reaction to that,” Goldie said with a laugh.

Duckworth gave her a hint of a rare smile. “If you mention payment, perhaps Mr. McDuck can have something arranged for you.”

This time she rolled her eyes and shooed him with a wave of her hand. “Yeah, yeah. Where is he, anyway? I’ve been looking all over.”

“I believe I saw him downstairs earlier, but he’s been shuffling around quite a bit today. Something on his mind, perhaps.”

Goldie hummed.

“Is this one of your anniversaries?” he asked without a hint of judgement.

She was already halfway to the door. “Not with me. Maybe it’s his anniversary with some _other_ gold digging ne’er-do-well this time.”

“Doubtful. I hope you find him soon,” Duckworth said as he started to float down through the floorboards. “He looked a little melancholy this morning.”

She frowned and watched as the ghost faded away. Only at McDuck Manor, she supposed.


	4. Stairs & the Boy's Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goldie's search continues.

That was not someone she’d anticipated speaking to anytime soon. Or, well,  _ ever. _

When Duckworth died, Goldie found out almost right away. Scrooge was already in his deep My-Niece-Is-Missing depression at the time, during which she tried to reach out every other year just to make sure he was still alive. He didn’t always pick up the phone, but that time he did, and he’d simply said,  _ “What do you need? I don’t have the energy for games. Duckworth is dead.” _

In what she considered probably not her finest moment, Goldie responded with,  _ “You can’t stuff everyone in an immortal magic castle, Scroogey.” _

After he hung up on her, they didn’t discuss it any other time. No one had mentioned his ghost hanging around. Now she almost felt bad about what she said.

Goldie stepped through the hallway and looked at the stairs. She sighed and sat on the second-to-top stair, leaning against the top with her head back. She looked up at the ceiling. This day was turning out to be very...conversational. It wasn’t what she’d planned on - usually Scrooge was much easier to find.

She closed her eyes and took a moment just for herself. She’d check downstairs for Scrooge, and then he wouldn’t be there because why would he be? That’d be too simple. He was apparently not going to make this easy for her.

A moment later, there were some small footsteps behind her that suddenly came to a stop. Goldie opened one eye to see a familiar tiny face staring down.

“Hey, Kiddo.”

“What are you doing on the stairs?” Webby asked with a tilt of her head.

“...thinking.” She closed her eyes again, hoping the kid would take the hint and go away.

Instead, Webby kneeled down and plopped herself next to the much older woman.

Goldie turned her head and opened her eyes again. “Can I help you with something?”

There was a good chunk of silence before Webby finally spoke.

“You’re a con artist and a thief.”

“True.”

“My granny says no one should ever trust you.”

“True.”

“Uncle Scrooge says you’re always looking for angles.”

“True.”

“But Louie says you’re just a softie trying to look tough.”

“Tru-wait, what?” Goldie sat up and stared at her. “I’m sure he must’ve been talking about someone else.”

“No.” Webby shook her head. “He was talking about you. He said you saved him when you didn’t have to.”

Goldie rolled her eyes. “Not wanting to watch a child die isn’t the emotional triumph he thinks it is.”

Webby looked down the hallway and then back at Goldie. “Maybe not. But it shows you care.”

“If you say so.”

“And you care about Uncle Scrooge.”

Goldie simply hummed as a response - she looked at the feathers at the tips of her fingers and played with them a bit.

Webby felt awkward for a moment and tapped her hands against her legs. Goldie could tell this line of seemingly unrelated statements was leading up to some sort of personal question, and she was not excited for it.

“...how do you know when you’re in love with someone?”

That wasn’t the question she’d anticipated. Something personal, sure, but not like  _ that. _ Goldie looked back at the preteen with a raised eyebrow. “What makes you think I’ve been in love?”

Webby looked like she was about to laugh. After a pause, her smile faded to pure confusion. “Wait, are you serious?”

Goldie just frowned.

“Okay…” Webby turned away from Goldie’s eyes uncomfortably. “...have you ever had a crush on a girl?”

A single, surprised blink. “Ah...when I was younger, sure. I’m a bit too old for crushes nowadays.”

“So how did you know?”

Goldie exhaled loudly and adjusted her sitting position again, lifting her butt up to sit on the top stair with the tiny duck. “What are you really asking me, Kid? You think you’re in love with one of your friends?”

Webby looked down at her knees with a bright blush on her face. “I...yeah. Maybe.”

This wasn’t a conversation she was prepped to have. She could give advice on fighting, on pilfering, on adventuring, on gently teasing while casually avoiding real feelings getting in the way. But...there was something about this kid that struck a chord. Maybe it was her tenacity or the way she didn’t take any of Goldie’s crap the last time they’d met. Maybe Goldie just really  _ was _ going soft.

“...what do you feel when you’re around her?”

Webby let out a short laugh. “Oh...I don’t know...happy?” She started playing with the ends of her hair. “My chest gets warm and I wanna support her in everything she does and I just wanna hug her all the time!”

Goldie ran her fingers through her ponytail. “Alright. Do you want to kiss her?”

“Um-!” Webby’s face turned somehow even redder. “I don’t know. I think I do.”

“I’d say that’s pretty definitive,” Goldie shrugged. “Kissing and love usually go together.”

“Usually,” Webby repeated. “But not always? Or always except for when it’s you and Uncle Scrooge?”

Goldie scoffed and adjusted her position again so she was leaning against the wall and staring directly at the talkative little girl. “You’re very nosy.”

“I just like to have my facts straight.”

“I’m sure you do.” Another eye roll. “Any chance you know where he is?”

Webby didn’t react to the change in topic. “Nope! But speaking of Uncle Scrooge…”

“As everyone is doing.”

“...I have some questions for you!” A notebook was pulled out of who-knows-where and Webby pointed to the first sentence at the top. “What brought you to Dawson? How did you and Uncle Scrooge meet? Did you really poison him? Why did you go to his claim? He’s written down the details before, but scribbled them all out or ripped up the pages.”

“Nope, nope,” Goldie stood up - her bones creaking a bit as she did. “We’re not doing this.”

“But I didn’t get to ask you before!” Webby waved her notebook around. “I have  _ so _ many questions! Do you still own the saloon? I heard it’s a hotel now!!”

Goldie jumped past the girl and rushed off in another direction. If Scrooge didn’t answer these questions, it definitely wasn’t her place to answer them. Especially not questions about...that particular time. And she certainly wasn’t going to answer questions about her current life.

She saw an unfamiliar door and quickly popped it open before Webby could follow after her. Running away from a small child? Yeah, that’s just where her day was at. It wasn’t a problem. Scrooge should thank her for it, though. Spilling his secrets to his ward would’ve been a fun way to ruin his reputation. She quietly closed the door in front of her.

“Oooh! Now  _ here’s _ a surprise guest, everyone!”

Shocked by the sound, Goldie turned around to find the blue triplet sitting at a talk show desk while some balloons with drawn-on faces were strapped to the chair next to him. She didn’t have any idea how to react to the scene in front of her.

“What the h…”

“Glittering Goldie O’Gilt, everyone!!” Dewey got up from his desk and pressed a sound effect button behind his back, mimicking the sound of a large audience clapping. He motioned for Goldie to walk up to him and for reasons unknown, she did exactly that.

Dewey shook her hand excitedly and led her towards the seat - tearing the balloon people off and ignoring them as they floated off to the ceiling. She sat down and didn’t say anything as he danced his way back to his own seat behind the desk.

“So,  _ Glittering Goldie  _ \- is it alright if I call you that?”

“No -”

“ _ What _ brings you to our humble studio today?”

She looked around. “What is this? A fake talk show? Is this what kids do nowadays instead of playing outside?”

Dewey laughed and looked straight at the camera, making an exaggerated shrugging motion and shaking his head slowly. “And they say  _ old people _ can’t be funny!”

“ _ Hey-! _ ”

“So is it true you’re like a million years old?” Dewey asked, clasping his hands in front of him and leaning over the desk eagerly.

Goldie was thrown off by the speed of which topics changed and the fact that he didn’t seem to be even the least bit intimidated by her. “No.”

Dewey looked at the camera, wiggled his eyebrows, then looked back at Goldie. “So how old  _ are you _ , then?”

“Didn’t anyone teach you not to ask a lady that?” Goldie crossed her arms over her chest.

“Oh, they absolutely did,” Dewey said with a big smile. “But our audience wants to  _ knooow! _ ”

“...audience?” Goldie squinted at the cameras. “Don’t tell me people are actually  _ watching _ this.”

He jumped up on the desk. “You know it! My fans are plentiful and thirsty for knowledge! So let’s  _ Dew _ this surprise interview!!”

She stood up out of the chair and shoved the nearest camera so it was angling away from her. “Nope.”

“Oh, c’mon! I haven’t had a real interview in forever!” Dewey stomped his foot on the desk. “And you’re so mysterious!”

“It’ll only stay that way if I stay  _ off camera. _ ” She put a hand on her hip and glared at him. “I’m not like Scrooge. I don’t feel the need to brag about how long I’ve been around.”

“But weren’t you, like, a showgirl or something? Back in prospector times?” Dewey flung his hands around in the air, hoping one of the cameras was still on them.

“ _ What? _ ”

“Y’know...big stage! Bright lights! Skimpy sparkly outfits!” He posed for dramatic effect. “That’s what Uncle Scrooge said, anyway.”

Goldie tapped one foot repeatedly as she considered how to respond without sounding too angry. “He is an _ aggravating  _ man. I was the proprietor of the most successful saloon Dawson has ever seen!”

Dewey smiled brightly, feeling a little bit like Louie in that moment. He was sure Scrooge could handle being thrown under the bus. “Oh? So you didn’t dance?”

“Of course I danced,” she said while pointing an angry finger in his chest. “I did everything! I danced, I sang, I bartended, I did whatever needed to get done. Scrooge loves to act like all I did was swing my hips and drug handsy sourdoughs when  _ he - !!! _ ”

She froze at the embarrassing realization that this kid had gotten her to say a lot more than she’d planned to.

“...when he  _ what? _ ” Dewey asked, genuinely interested and also hoping his viewership would go up thanks to the unbridled tension.

“When he...nothing.” Goldie threw her hands up in the air. “Where is he, anyway? I’ve run into everyone else in this stupid house, but have yet to see the actual reason I’m  _ here. _ ”

Dewey shrugged and turned around, attempting a cartwheel from the desk back to his chair. He fell with a loud clatter and held a hand up to stop Goldie from helping him as he climbed back to a seated position (she wasn’t going to help him anyway, but the gesture added to the drama of the scene). He smiled at his camera again before turning to face the blonde. “Came here to see Uncle Scrooge, eh? You guys have a  _ smooch session _ planned?” He laughed and finger gunned at the camera. “That is  _ so _ gross!”

“Nothing’s planned,” she answered with a smirk. “But who knows where the night will go?”

“Oh, wait,  _ what? _ EW!” Dewey scowled and ran his hands down his face. “That was supposed to be a joke and you just RUINED it!! Ewww, I don’t know where he is!! Just _ leave! Ewwwwww!!! Nooo! What?!” _

She chuckled and headed out the door she came in through, happy to see that Webby hadn’t followed. Frustrating as Scrooge’s little disappearing act was, mentally torturing a child with the reminder that his ancient Uncle had a love life was always fun.


	5. Webby's Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search continues!

At this point, she was just checking random doors. That door used to be a closet, but hey - maybe it’s a secret room now! Oh, nope. Still a closet.

 _That_ door used to be a bathroom! And...still a bathroom.

Eventually she did open one that turned out to be a room. A surprisingly big room, actually. With two pairs of eyes staring right at her.

She didn’t want to talk to more kids. This was getting tiring. Goldie immediately tried to turn around, but the door was suddenly encased in a blue light and it closed magically in front of her.

“Who are _you?!_ ”

Goldie turned around to see the taller child floating two feet off the ground and holding a magically glowing hand towards the door. Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t Scrooge have magical children running around his home? He had everything else. This just made sense.

The other little girl was holding some sort of glowing magical talisman. Great. Great, great, great.

“How about a better question...who are _you two?_ ”

Lena scowled. “We asked you first!”

“I suppose that’s true.” Goldie shrugged, taking a few steps away from the door to test her current flexibility under this glowing child’s eye. She couldn’t take more than a few steps before feeling a magical heat on her feathers. The heat felt oddly familiar, like she’d fought someone before who used the exact same brand of magic. A hundred years of magical foes didn’t trim the list down very much, but it was something to think about. With that in mind, Goldie decided that fighting these kids wasn’t worth the effort nor the consequences.

“I’m a friend of Scrooge’s.”

Lena looked like she’d calmed down a little at that response, pulling her arm back, but Violet put up a hand threateningly. “Scrooge McDuck has a lot of dangerous friends. What’s your _name?_ ”

Goldie moved to slap her hand against her forehead, but quickly stopped and instead pinched the bridge at the top of her beak. “Goldie O’Gilt.”

Violet didn’t seem to recognize the name, but Lena immediately relaxed and landed back down on the floor with a thud.

“You know her?”

“Yeah, she’s Scrooge’s girlfriend. She’s a thief, but Louie says she’s harmless.”

“ _Harmless?_ ” Goldie scowled. “Just because I don’t want to mess with a bunch of children doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be afraid of me!”

Violet raised an eyebrow and looked up at her sister. “I see what you mean.”

“ _What!?_ ”

“So what’re you doing here, _Goldie?_ ” Lena asked impolitely, not bothering with any sort of title or explanation. “We’re kind of busy getting started on a sleepover.”

Goldie’s eye twitched and she stared down at these two unexpectedly sassy children. “I’m just trying to find Scrooge. Somehow I doubt you two vagabonds could help me out.”

“Like we would even if we could,” Lena said with a smirk, elbowing her sister in the arm. “I think she’s scared of me.”

“Your powers have grown exceptionally more intimidating, so it’s understandable.”

The blonde dragged her hand down the side of her face. “You two are starting to get on my last nerve. You should never mistake _pity_ for fear.”

Violet and Lena glanced at one another and locked eyes, considering their options in case the strange, older woman decided to attack. Webby would return momentarily, and three against one would give them just the right odds they needed.

Lena lifted herself an inch off the ground and her eyes started to glow again and she glared at Goldie, who stared down at her suspiciously for a minute until realization struck. Those eyes, though a different color, were unmistakable.

“I know who you remind me of!” Goldie said suddenly with her pointer finger in the air. “Your powers, your face...are you a _De Spell_ by any chance?”

That did the trick. The shock of the accusation made Lena’s powers all but backfire and she tripped backwards, landing on her butt. Violet stepped back to help lift her back up.

“Are you alright, Lena?”

“I’m fine!” Lena sat up and shook her head angrily. “How did you-?”

“Magica and I had a few run-ins back in the 70’s,” Goldie said with a shrug. “You have her eyes, you know that? You look _just_ like her.”

Violet glared at the older woman and Lena almost felt like curling in on herself, turning her head to look down at her feet sadly. She didn’t say anything and suddenly Goldie felt a weird, unfamiliar sensation. Almost like she’d said something wrong when she knew for a fact she’d only said a simple fact.

Still...the kid looked _very_ unhappy. Clearly Magica was not someone she wanted to be related to.

Goldie sighed deeply and walked closer, crouching down to be more on their level. “Look, the average person wouldn’t notice something like that, alright? I’m sure you’re nothing like Magica. You’re pretty clearly more level headed than her. And not insane.”

She looked away from the girls, who were both staring up at her with their big eyes. “I’m assuming you’re not evil, either. Pink doesn’t seem like she’d be into that.”

Lena and Violet looked at each other, then back up at Goldie again.

“Did you just try to comfort me?”

Goldie rolled her eyes. “Don’t ruin the moment. I just did my one good deed for the year.”

Violet helped Lena stand back up. “If this is what counts as your one good deed, I shudder to imagine what you spend the rest of your time doing.”

“Good.”

Lena crossed her arms over her chest again, feeling more like herself than she did a second before. “Does Webby even know you’re here? Or Scrooge?”

“She does; he’d better not.” Goldie shrugged. “If he does, he’ll face my wrath for making me hunt him down. These little chases are supposed to be fun. Instead I’ve been babysitting brats all afternoon.”

“From what I understand, you and Mr. McDuck are...romantically inclined?” Violet asked with a hand under her beak. “Why not just tell him you’ve arrived so he can greet you properly? You have a cell phone in your pocket.”

Goldie smirked. “Now how would that be any fun?”

“Efficiency is always fun. Proper communication leads to accurately scheduled arrivals and your available time for intimate interaction could increase significantly, likely strengthening your relationship and leading to a healthier outlook of your lives together.” She looked at her sister who was making a disgusted expression. “What’s wrong?”

Lena and Goldie spoke at once. “ _Gross._ ” 

They both blinked simultaneously and looked at each other. Violet brought a hand up to her beak to contain her chuckle at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Goldie scoffed and flipped her ponytail back over her shoulder while Lena blew a raspberry and sank down into the make-shift pillow seat she’d been working on earlier. Neither of them spoke but Violet could sense an odd change in the air.

“When did you speak to Webbigail? She was supposed to be getting us some snacks and it’s taken her longer than expected.”

Goldie shrugged again. “She stopped for a few minutes to bother me. I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”

“Back with questions for you, I’d bet,” Lena said and pointed behind her. “You’d probably have some _great_ additions for the Mystery Board.”

Her curiosity was not going to get the better of her. “I don’t want to know what that means.” She moved towards the door and cracked it open to look out. No sign of the kid. No sign of anyone. Time to get back to looking for Scrooge.

Without a goodbye, she started through the door.

“Goldie?”

The blonde sighed and squeezed the door frame, turning her head to the side. “Yes?”

“Are you here to steal something?”

Goldie looked back at the girl who spoke and saw a genuinely curious expression under her dyed hair.

She sighed and turned back towards the hallway. “That’s not all I do.”

And she left, shutting the door behind her.


	6. Dining Room & Living Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now she's downstairs!

Goldie, finally alone, took the opportunity to climb down the stairs. Duckworth had said Scrooge was down there at some point. Of course, Scrooge was all around the manor at some point. Not the most helpful clue. But still, there she went.

Quietly creeping down the staircase to ensure the housekeeper wouldn’t notice her, she poked her head around the side and glanced every which way. There was definitely someone in the kitchen and she had no doubts who that was. It was not a confrontation she was interested in having. Sure - Goldie could take out Twenty-Two with minimal effort. But did she want to? Not particularly.

She tip-toed her way towards the dining room, hoping to see Scrooge eating some of his disgusting family recipes or reading the paper. And as she opened the door, she saw someone sitting at the end of the table right underneath the large portrait of Scrooge’s parents.

Even with the giant newspaper covering his face, she recognized the signature top hat.

“ _Finally._ ” Goldie stepped forward and leaned on the table flirtatiously. “Scroogey, where have you-”

The newspaper was pulled down to reveal the red triplet, who just happened to be wearing Scrooge’s hat.

Goldie and Huey stared at each other for a full second before they both yiped.

Huey grabbed the top hat and threw it across the room. “I-I wasn’t pretending to be Uncle Scrooge!”

Goldie watched the hat’s descent. “Um…”

“Wait, what? _Miss Goldie?”_ He blinked several times and then shook his head, focusing on neatly folding up the newspaper. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m - ”

“Stealing something? Visiting Scrooge? Come to talk to Louie?”

“...it’s -”

“Are you going to tie up Mrs. Beakley again? She probably won’t appreciate that.”

“...”

“Well?”

Goldie crossed her arms over her chest. “I was waiting for you to stop talking.”

Huey stood up straight and popped his normal hat back on his head. “I’m done.”

“I’m looking for your uncle. Contrary to apparently popular belief, I don’t need to steal something every time I’m here.” She glanced around the room and a few items of significant monetary value stood out to her. “...of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t.”

He followed her eyeline and frowned. “Why are you looking for Uncle Scrooge?”

Goldie picked herself up and sat on the edge of the table, one leg crossed over the other. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“You being in my home makes it my business,” Huey said matter-of-factly. “I don’t think I’m wrong to assume that you broke in here, which means the manor isn’t as secure as it should be considering the types of people who try to just come in whenever they want to.”

Impressed, she smiled down at the kid. “So _serious._ You know, I spoke with your brother earlier and he’s busy putting on a show, while you’re down here pretending to be an ancient businessman with a back problem.”

He stiffened. “What’s your point?”

“My point…” Goldie leaned over and flicked the brim of Huey’s hat, knocking it off his head. It was easy to change the subject with kids. “...is that you don’t seem to know how to have fun.”

Huey reached over and grabbed his hat to put it back on. “I make my own fun! The girls have their sleepovers and Dewey is...Dewey. And Louie doesn’t do anything! Scrooge is alone all the time so I thought imitating him might give me some ideas!”

She frowned at that. “What do you mean, alone all the time? He has a million people living in this house with him.”

“Well, yeah, sure. But he still has his alone routine he fell into before we moved in.” Huey scratched his arm. “He takes long baths, usually eats meals by himself, drinks a lot of tea alone on the couch, spends hours writing stuff at the desk in his room…”

Goldie’s frown deepened. Was this kid trying to pull one over on her? Those specifically sounded like activities she could be joining in on if she were a more regular resident of the manor. “I’m sure he prefers it that way,” she said with a shrug.

Huey gave her a suspicious look, almost like her reaction was not what he thought she’d say. He clearly gave his response some consideration before saying, “Yes, well...that’s the life of a bachelor, I guess!”

She laughed. “What would _you_ know about a bachelor’s life? You’re, what, 10?”

“I’m 11, thank you very much.” Huey clasped his fingers on the table in front of him. “And I may not know a lot about bachelors, but I know Uncle Scrooge! Plus I know _you’ve_ ,” He pointed at her dramatically, “been running around all afternoon trying to find him and you won’t tell anyone why. So I think you miss him, and he’s lonely. And Duckworth thinks it’s some anniversary for you guys. So you can keep pretending that you’re just here to get on Uncle Scrooge’s nerves, but I think it’s pretty obvious that you just want to spend some time with him and it’s kind of ridiculous that even at your age, you two can’t seem to just sit down and have a normal conversation about it. Considering what Webby told us about your little adventure down in Florida, I would’ve thought you two would be better at communicating by now. I guess one good trip can’t undo over a hundred years of messiness.”

Goldie stared at him, quite taken aback. She wasn’t used to anyone speaking to her like that.

“I’d say I know quite a bit, _Aunt Goldie_.” Huey stood up and grabbed the paper in front of him, stuffing it under his arm. He shuffled towards the exit. “Tell Uncle Scrooge I said hi when you finally find him.”

She was still staring at the empty chair when Huey left the room. This was really turning out to be some kind of day, wasn’t it? Scolded by children. Lectured by children. Pitied by children. Interviewed by children. There were too many kids in this house, she didn’t need to tell Scrooge that. Communication wasn’t the problem - he knew exactly how she felt.

Goldie hopped off the table. She brushed some dust off her shorts and considered the possibility that maybe Scrooge didn’t one hundred percent know how she felt.

...no, no. He knew.

She looked at the doors around the room. That was the one she entered from, that one went to the kitchen, and...she didn’t remember where that door led. So…

The door creaked quite a bit as she pushed it open, revealing the living room. Oh, yeah. Now she remembered. And there was someone sitting on the couch, sipping a drink and watching television.

Goldie smiled and walked over, plopping down on the armrest and leaning against the back of the couch.

“Hey, can you get me another Pep? I’m almost out.”

Her smile turned into a smirk as she realized Louie wasn’t paying enough attention to figure out who was with him. She snatched the soda out of his hand and chugged the rest of it.

Louie stared at his now-empty hand. “ _Hey!_ What do you think you’re…” He turned his head to confront the soda stealing culprit and then froze. “...wait, what?”

“Hey there, Sharpie.”

“What are _you_ doing here?!” Louie jumped over to the far side of the couch and checked his pockets to see if anything was missing.

“Just hanging out. Talking to your entire family, for whatever reason.” She shrugged. “And what are _you_ up to? Judging from the number of empty cans here, I take it there’s no scheme in the works.”

“I’m not _constantly_ scheming,” Louie said with a frown. “Unlike you, I have a life outside of that. Y’know, family and friends.”

Goldie didn’t let his comment annoy her. (Almost.) “More proof that family just bogs you down. Let me guess; they ruined your last scheme?”

Louie shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket. “Nope.”

“Oh?”

“They actually _saved_ my last scheme. I guess having a family isn’t as bad as you seem to think it is.” He smirked at her, feeling like he was on top again.

Goldie scowled and turned her body to face him, letting one leg droop onto the couch while the other hung over the edge of the armrest. “What is with everyone today?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve spoken to ninety percent of the people who live here, including several random children that I’ve never seen before, and everyone is just constantly talking about how great and important family is.” She shook her hands for emphasis. “Are you people always like this or is it just a special topic for me?”

Louie let out a short, rude laugh. “Ever think you might be a little paranoid? If everyone’s talking to you about family, that’s probably your own fault.”

She scoffed. “Paranoia is good for a person like me. It’s the only reason I’m still alive.”

“Oh, really?” He sat back down, leaning against the other armrest to look at her smugly. “It’s not because of magic? Or fountains of youth? Maybe some dimension hopping?”

“That all came later. Before I found my first fountain, I was just a normal duck who had to be better than every other duck or dog or pig that came to town. No family or friends to support me or fall back on.”

Louie snapped a finger and then pointed a finger gun at Goldie. “You just brought up family again with no prompting.”

“What?” Goldie frowned and thought about what she’d said. “No - you know what? That’s because I’m _surrounded_ by you people!”

“So you admit that it’s your own fault.” He smiled and adjusted his position so he was facing the TV again. “Does denial come naturally when you get old or is it just you and Uncle Scrooge?”

She glared down at Louie for a moment before picking herself up and plopping down on the couch next to him. “So what are we watching?”

Louie glanced up at her, surprised that she hadn’t left. “Ottoman Empire. It’s my favorite show.”

“What’s it about?”

“I don’t even know, it’s so stupid.”

A minute passed with them silently watching the show together. Louie was clearly very comfortable, and Goldie had to admit that just sitting and watching some nonsense with her favorite of Scrooge’s kids was...nice.

As annoying as the day had been, there were a few moments she enjoyed. This was definitely in the top three, as embarrassing as that fact was. There was something about Sharpie that made her feel lighter. Sure, she’d betrayed him, but he didn’t seem to hold a grudge like his uncle tended to. He didn’t seem to care at all. He even told one of the other ducklings that she was _soft._

“Why’d you tell Lil Vanderquack that I’m, quote, _a softie?_ ” she asked suddenly, cutting through the boredom of a commercial break.

Louie didn’t even look at her, taking a sip from an old can of Pep that still had some liquid at the bottom. “Cause you are.”

Goldie hummed in response. What would be the point in disagreeing with him? Clearly he’d made up his mind. And here she was, snuggling with him on a comfy sofa, watching bad reality TV while not twenty feet away was a woman who wanted to rip her head off and not five feet away were treasures worth more than her home. Maybe he had a point.

“Do you always think you’re right?” she asked.

“Do _you?_ ”

Goldie frowned deeper and put a hand on top of Louie’s head, brushing her fingers through some of his little feathers. “Of course.”

He didn’t stop her from playing with his hair, enjoying it more than he’d admit. “Then there’s your answer.”

She was tempted to get into a whole pointless argument of ‘well we can’t _both_ be right,’ but it would get old fast. “So I’m looking for your uncle.”

“No kidding.”

“...he wasn’t in his bedroom -”

“ _Ew._ ”

Goldie rolled her eyes. “Have you seen him?” She removed her hand from his head and started to stand up.

“Ehh…” Louie sat up straight for a minute and combed through his hair to set it back to normal. “I’m not sure. I thought I saw him looking at some old treasures earlier. In the garage.”

“Alright.” Goldie looked at the TV again for a moment, genuinely interested in where the episode was going.

But the sound of footsteps walking towards them from the kitchen took her out of that stupor. She leaned down and left an unprompted smooch on Louie’s head. “Seeya round, Sharpie.”

“Wha-?! _Gross!_ ” Louie angrily rubbed a hand over the spot she’d kissed and when he looked back up, Goldie was gone.

“What’s gross?” Beakley asked as she stepped into the room with a fresh can of Pep.

Louie smiled and grabbed it. “Oh, nothing. Goldie’s here, by the way.”

She grabbed some of the empty cans and scoffed. “You're right - that _is_ quite gross.”


	7. The Garage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At this point she's really just wandering.

Avoiding Beakley was a little more difficult than anticipated when they were on the same floor of the same house. In retrospect, Goldie realized that Bentina probably knew she was there. How could she _not?_ The red triplet knew a lot of things he couldn’t have known unless the kids were texting each other all afternoon and surely she was on some kind of text chain.

Eh. If she knew, Goldie would probably be the hunt of the day. Instead she was able to wander about freely, making her way towards the garage where Scrooge kept a lot of his treasures. Everytime she was there it seemed to be missing things that were there before. But at least there were always new trinkets to look at!

She looked around as she stepped down the hallway, taking in all the photos and paintings lining the walls. Scrooge was so narcissistic. How many times could someone commission their own face before getting tired? And did he pose for all of them? Absolutely ridiculous.

A certain painting caught her eye and Goldie paused in her walk to really take a look at it. She stepped closer and brought a hand up to the image, feeling a nostalgic warmth in her chest as she rubbed her finger along the edge of his face.

It was Scrooge back in the Klondike - probably only a few years after they’d first met. Not too different from the photo she kept in her wallet.

He was _very_ handsome back then. She hated to admit how much it struck her, that underneath all that dirt and grime and sour roughness he had the cutest face she’d ever seen - but Goldie was taken the first moment she saw him. It didn’t stop her from drugging and robbing him, sure, but he was the only sourdough that made her hesitate.

It’d been a few minutes before Goldie realized she was just standing there, staring at this painting and reminiscing like an old fool. She blushed, glad no one was around to see, and continued on her journey down the hall.

This house had so many distractions. No wonder Scrooge just wandered around, lost in his memories all the time. Her place was kept much neater - things she wanted to remember were kept in a box or her wallet so she would have to seek them out if she wanted to reminisce. Just another in a long list of reasons why she didn’t like being here for too long.

The door ahead of her was open wide and Goldie could clearly hear the sound of someone struggling with...something. It didn’t sound like Scrooge, but she wasn’t sure who it was.

A few steps forward, a turn around the corner, and three steps down the stairs and Goldie was inside the cramped little room. There weren’t as many treasures in it as last time - maybe Scrooge moved them somewhere else? - but directly in her line of sight was a duck she hadn’t seen in a long time trying to move a heavy-looking box by pushing it with her back.

Goldie smirked, feeling a sparkle to her eyes that she was very embarrassed about. Before Louie, she’d never gotten attached to any of Scrooge’s kids. He specifically asked her not to, several times, because he didn’t want her hurting them. A painful insinuation, but he was right. She would’ve treated them just the same as him, and kids can’t handle that kind of drama.

That being said, she always liked Donald and Della. They were funny, they were different, and they were very annoying. But in a good way! Donald was whiny and loved to complain about his family. Della was crazy and high-flying and always took her jokes too far. Goldie didn’t imagine they thought very highly of her, considering the way she treated their uncle. But despite their lack of closeness, Della confided in Goldie when she first realized she was pregnant.

 _“You’ve known Uncle Scrooge longer than anyone,”_ she’d said quietly. _“...do you think he’ll be mad? Disappointed?”_

Goldie had barely known what to say to her then, mostly feeling bad that her mother wasn’t around to help in this kind of situation (or any other adult women, really). She knew what she would’ve done herself and what she would’ve said to the girls she used to work with back at the saloon. But this was different. This girl wasn’t her friend and wasn’t scared of motherhood - she was just entering unfamiliar territory.

_“He’ll be more excited than you’ve ever seen him, trust me.”_

Shaking off another spell of nostalgia, Goldie hurried over to help the younger duck with the big box in her hands, tugging at it while she pushed. Her shoulder stung at the pressure, but she wanted to make a fun entrance.

“Hey, thanks!” Della said, without looking back.

Goldie wondered who she thought was helping her. “No problem, Fly Girl.”

“Heh,” Della stopped for a second. “No one’s called me that since -”

She stopped and finally turned, taking in the smirking face staring right at her. Her fingers gripped at the top of the box tightly and her eyes started to sparkle. And then they stopped sparkling and she glared. And then they sparkled again.

Goldie raised an eyebrow. Internal dilemma?

“Aunt Goldie!” Della yelped, lifting herself over the box and slamming into Goldie - knocking them both to the ground.

Goldie took the brunt of the impact, letting out a loud _OOF!_ as Della squeezed her tight and made her poor shoulder flare up. She didn’t get a chance to hug back before the younger duck pulled away and stood back up, her metal leg clanging on the hard floor.

“Sorry, sorry,” Della said softly, standing back up. “What’s up? What’re you doing here? What are you stealing?”

Goldie sat up straight, taking a moment to stare at Della’s leg. She knew she’d returned, but no one had really shared any details. This seemed like one of those big details that deserved to be shared, but maybe everyone was just used to it already. She started to push herself up when Della leaned over and helped her stand.

“Hey, hey,” Goldie brushed her hands off. “I’m not _that_ old just yet.”

Della laughed and pulled her hands back. “Oh no, of course not! You’re a million years old, but somehow younger looking than you were before I disappeared.”

“Hilarious.” She crossed her arms over her chest, not really offended. “You sound exactly like one of your kids.”

That immediately brought a sparkle to Della’s eyes. “Yeah? That’s what Donald says, too!” She leaned on the box and smiled. “And Uncle Scrooge.”

Goldie smiled despite herself and Della felt a warm nostalgia brush over her. “So are you here to see Scrooge? I’m kind of glad you guys are still doing this whatever-it-is-you’re-doing thing. So many things changed while I was gone, it's nice to have some consistency!”

Ignoring the question, Goldie leaned against the shelf behind her. “I didn’t come around too much while you were away. Scrooge was always so depressed, it wasn’t any fun to tease him.”

Della grimaced and sighed, turning away. “...yeah. So I’ve heard.”

There was an awkward silence for a few moments that Goldie fully acknowledged was her own fault. She bit the inside of her cheek and cleared her throat. “Well, um. Yes, I guess we’re still doing whatever this is.”

“No labels, yet?” Della’s mood did a 180. “But you didn’t object when I called you Aunt Goldie this time! What’s that about?”

Goldie scoffed. “I was a little distracted by you plowing me into the ground.”

Della just smiled bigger. “Still not objecting!”

Goldie didn’t look at her and opted to focus on playing with her hair. She hummed. “...I’ve never really minded it that much. It’s cute.”

“Do the kids call you Aunt?” She lifted herself up, sitting fully on top of the box. “You said I sound like them. You’ve spent time with them, then?”

“Don’t get too excited.” Goldie pushed herself off the shelf, standing up straight and stretching her arms. “I spent a day with Sharp-, er, with...ah, _Louie._ But not the others.” The name felt foreign on her tongue.

Della excitedly tapped the box lid. “Were you going to call him _Sharpie?_ ” She laughed. “You’ve gotten a lot less creative with nicknames over the years.”

“I don’t know if Fly Girl is all that creative, either,” Goldie said with a smirk and walked closer to the box, leaning against the side of it.

There was a light clang as Della swung her legs back and forth. “No one appreciates my great names,” she said proudly. “The boys were supposed to have _much_ cooler names! And they’re calling my Cloudslayer the _Sunchaser?_ Like, what’s up with that?”

“What were those names?”

“Jet, Turbo, and Rebel!”

Goldie silently blinked at her. “Um…yeah. Fantastic names.”

“Thanks!” Della smiled brightly, still not accustomed to sarcasm after being alone for so long. “Donald’s picks are just so old-fashioned.”

“Personally, I’m a fan of old fashioned.”

“Yeah, well, when you live through it, it makes sense to get attached!” Della laughed and swung her legs again. 

The metal sound caught Goldie’s eye and she glanced down again, though this time Della took notice.

“You haven’t asked me about my leg yet.”

“I was trying to be polite,” Goldie said with a frown. “What happened?”

“Lost it on the moon,” she responded, looking off at nothing while she spoke. “It was the second most painful experience of my life, and I’m lucky I knew enough about robotics to build myself this sucker in only a few months. I don’t know how well I would’ve done if I wasn’t able to move around, y’know?” Della reached down and twisted off her prosthetic, holding it in front of her to point at different parts while she spoke. “This joint was the worst, took me almost two straight weeks to figure out what I was doing wrong. And now that I’m back, Gyro’s been offering to tweak the design, and he kind of owes me for the stupid licorice gum, but I like how I made it! And, of course, according to Junior Woodchuck Rule #42, something made right doesn’t need any tweaking. Though some upgrades might be cool.”

Goldie stared down at the metal limb and hummed. “I’m impressed. In all my years adventuring, I’ve never lost a limb, but I don’t know if I’d bounce back from that the way you did.”

“Yeah, well, I had to get back to my boys!” She twisted her leg back on and stretched it out. “You know how it is.”

“I really don’t,” Goldie said with an eye roll.

“Hmmm.” Della adjusted herself, moving her legs on top of the box and sitting on them. “Don’t you have _anyone_ in particular you think about during life or death situations? That’s the feeling I had. That I couldn’t die ‘cause I had to get back to them no matter what.”

The blonde stared down, looking at the gray concrete of the floor and thinking. Of course there was a person - one particular person - who her mind drifted to when she thought about survival. But it wasn’t just about seeing him again...she was inspired by him and his ability to make it through anything thrown his way. He survived so much on his own and she struggled to accept when he started needing help. Della’s lovey dovey family monologue was just reminding her of how long it took her to adjust to Scrooge’s family suddenly being a part of his life.

She stood up straight and put a hand on her hips. “I don’t know if everyone can identify with that. But I’m glad it helped you come back in one piece.”

Della smiled, completely aware of the long pause Goldie took before answering. She always liked Goldie - didn’t trust her, would _never_ fully trust her - but she liked her a lot. Even when she showed up just to ruin things or piss Scrooge off, there was always a little spark of warmth at the knowledge that she’d be back eventually.

“So…” Della tapped her hands against her thighs. “You never said why you’re here.”

“Right,” Goldie sighed and brushed some hair out of her face. “Looking for your uncle. Have you seen him?”

“As expected,” the younger duck responded with another bright smile. “Did you check his study?”

“His study?” Goldie frowned and thought about the path of her day. “Of course I...er…” Did she check his study? The most obvious place he could possibly be? “...right. Thanks.”

Della laughed again, patting Goldie on the back. “Don’t sweat it! And hey, let us know if you’re staying for dinner! I’m sure Mrs. Beakley will be happy to make you a plate!”

Goldie grimaced as she headed back out the door. “Oh, _sure._ She’d love nothing more.”

“Okay, great!” Della waved as the door closed again.


	8. The Study & The Foyer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did she find him yet??? Let's find out!

Sneaking over to Scrooge’s study wasn’t an issue. Goldie didn’t hear the sounds of Beakley or any kids moving around, didn’t see Duckworth’s ghost - finally she would just find Scrooge and talk to him for a bit and then leave.

Almost to the study door, Goldie frowned. Maybe she should hang around for a little longer than a _ bit  _ after all the trouble she’d gone through to find him. But after spending so much time with the family already, just the idea of staying longer felt overwhelming. This was just supposed to be a quick visit, not some celebratory weekend vacation. There was no anniversary, no birthday, she just wanted to say hi.

She took a deep breath and opened the door, smiling brightly in preparation.

And...empty.

Goldie didn’t even bother to look around and check. This was just what she should’ve expected. She walked forward and sat in Scrooge’s desk chair, putting her feet up.

“Scroogey, Scroogey, Scroogey,” Goldie said in a sing-song tone. “Where could you be…”

She looked over the desk, checking out the headers of every paper. Eventually her eyes landed on a calendar, and Goldie excitedly sat up straight and grabbed it, using her pointer finger to find her way to the current date.

Nothing. It was blank. Looks like he had a free Saturday to do whatever he wanted. In this case: running around and avoiding his ex-everything. Or whatever he was calling her these days.

She sighed loudly and plopped her head down on the desk. Why was this so difficult? Was she having a bad day or was she just bad at this suddenly? She rotated her head so her cheek was shoved against the grain, beak tapping on the wood as she considered what to do next. There were so many rooms in this house, and knowing Scrooge...he probably didn’t waste any of them. He had reason to be in literally any room at any time. He could be looking for  _ her _ by this point. Maybe she should listen to the hummingbird kid and just text him after all.

Goldie grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket and turned on the screen, taking a moment to enjoy her background. It was an old photo of Scrooge she’d taken when he was asleep and he looked particularly cute. He didn’t know about it and probably wouldn’t like the angle, but she could practically hear him snoring when she looked at it long enough.

She had a missed call and two texts she didn’t feel like responding to. What was the point of being on an adventure if she had responsibilities somewhere else?

Just as her thumb slid over to click on her messages, a phone started to ring.

Goldie jumped, not expecting the sound, and quickly scanned the room for the source. Scrooge had a shelf lined with different phones, all labeled, and one of them was ringing  _ loudly. _

After the fourth ring with no one coming to answer it, Goldie bit the inside of her cheek and exhaled. She stood up and walked over to the phones, staring at the one that wouldn’t stop ringing.

“Dismal Downs…?” Goldie said softly, trying to remember where she’d heard that name before. It sounded Scottish, for sure. Was it somewhere in Glasgow?

Despite all the traveling she’d done over the years, Goldie had never been to Glasgow. Going there without Scrooge’s invitation felt...wrong. Unlike breaking into his American home, which felt very very right.

Hesitantly, Goldie picked up the phone and held it up to her ear.

“...hello?”

_ “What?” _ the voice at the other end said in a thick, barely understandable accent.  _ “Who’s this? The maid?” _

“Not even close. Who’s this?”

_ “This is Fergus McDuck! Where’s Scrooge? His mother’s been waitin’ for him to call and the phone hasnae rang once!” _

Goldie smiled. Now she remembered the name Dismal Downs. That’s where Scrooge’s magic immortal castle was keeping his family alive.

“Scrooge isn’t here, but I’ll be sure to let him know his Dear Ol’ Daddy’s upset,” she said smugly, imitating his accent.

The voice on the other end paused.  _ “You’ve got quite the mouth on ya. Who is this?” _

She considered, briefly, hanging up and not saying anything. But this was kind of fun. “The name’s Goldie.”

_ “Ach? Goldie? From Goldieburg?” _ He sounded genuinely confused.

“I’m sorry - Goldieburg?”

_ “Aye, Scrooge mentioned a Goldie back when he came to fix up the castle. Is that you?” _

She felt an odd flutter thinking that he talked to his parents about her. What was  _ that _ about? Just complaining? Especially back then...their relationship was still very new. He couldn’t have had many good things to say.

“Probably. I don’t think he knows any other Goldie.”

“ _ Downy!” _

_ “Yes, Fergus?” _ Goldie could hear a woman’s voice in the distance, similarly accented.

_ “Scrooge’s wee burd is on the phone!” _

_ “Our Scroogey’s? Does she sound nice?” _

_ “No, not in the least. Probably a good match for our son, then.” _

_ “Oh, Fergus! Don’t be such a grump!” _

Goldie wasn’t sure how to react to what she was hearing. They had the wrong idea, but also kind of not the wrong idea. It’s not like she needed to explain the whole situation to them. It’d probably confuse the old folks, or give them a very bad impression of their son.

_ “Let me talk to her!” _

The mother of her long-time rival-slash-love-interest wanted to talk to her?

She hung up, grimacing. That started out funny, but quickly dissolved into too much. They were probably going to make a thousand assumptions that Scrooge would grill her about later. On the plus side, she was  _ definitely _ going to ask about what the hell Goldieburg meant.

The phone started to ring again and Goldie bolted out of the room. The kids were still nowhere to be seen, it sounded like Beakley was back in the kitchen, and she didn’t feel the presence of any magic or ghosts.

It was time to continue checking the rooms one-by-one, then.

Goldie passed through the foyer, making her way to the other side of the mansion, when the front doorknob started to turn. She eyed the door suspiciously and waited to see who was about to enter. The front hallway wasn’t an ideal spot to greet Scrooge, but she’d take whatever she could get at this point.

The door swung open - it wasn’t locked? - and Goldie raised an eyebrow as she took in the image of the two ducks in front of her.

“I told you it’d be unlocked, Buddy!”

“Boy, Gladstone, when you’re right, you’re right!”

They looked up and made eye contact with Goldie. She stared back, unblinking, trying to figure out who in the world she’d just witnessed breaking into Scrooge’s mansion without breaking a sweat - she was supposed to be the only one who could do that.

The duck in the back smiled and walked forward a few steps, clearly about to say something to Goldie when his eye caught something on the ground. “Hey! Twenty dollars!” He leaned down and grabbed it.

Goldie gaped. How the hell had she not noticed that money? And also… “Wait a second, are you...Gladstone?”

He looked up at her, looked her up and down, and then tapped his beak. “Last time I checked! And  _ you... _ look vaguely familiar!”

The other duck came up behind him and looked over Goldie as well. “Gladstone...don’t you know who this is?”

“Not at all!” Gladstone said more enthusiastically than necessary.

“This is...Mrs. Beakley!”

“ _ Ooohh _ -”

“No I am  _ not. _ ” Goldie crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m  _ Goldie. _ O’Gilt? And you must be Fethry, then. You two have certainly grown. What are you doing here?”

“Goldie! That’s it!” Gladstone plopped a fist into his open hand for emphasis. “I remember you kidnapping me once!”

She rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t a  _ kidnapping _ . Just...kid-borrowing.”

“Oh, oh! I remember that, too!” Fethry clapped his hands together. “I remember crying very very much.”

“Yes, there was lots of annoying crying,” Goldie said. “But I needed some good luck that day.”

Gladstone shrugged again. “Well, no one else would be able to help with that! And I won so many free pizzas.”

“Donald was so mad he almost tore up my hat!” Fethry laughed for a few seconds, before suddenly stopping and staring out into nothing.

The other two stared at him, expecting him to say something else, but he stayed quiet.

“Right. So, speaking of Donald, where is he?” Gladstone pointed at Goldie. “We’re supposed to be meeting him for lunch!”

“Oh, really?” Goldie asked with a raised eyebrow. “Last time I saw him, he was gardening by the pool. Didn’t look like he had late lunch plans.” She looked up at a nearby clock. “ _ Very _ late lunch plans.”

“I got lost!” Fethry said with a smile.

“And I didn’t really want to be here,” Gladstone added. “But we have a Della-related surprise to talk about, so!”

She sighed and pointed behind her towards the back of the house. “He’s that way. Just go.”

Gladstone frowned. “That’s a  _ lot _ of walking.”

“I’ve got you, Gladdy!” Fethry reached over and picked up his cousin, slinging him over his shoulder. “To Donald!”

“To Donald!” Gladstone repeated, happily lounging.

Goldie watched them walk away and sighed. Alright. She was giving up. There was no one left to ask except one person who she knew was just a few steps away. So what was the point in putting it off any longer?

She slowly made her way to the kitchen.


	9. The Kitchen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's so close! Right? Right? Scrooge can't be too far away now. Hopefully. Maybe. Right?

Before going in, Goldie took a deep breath to prepare herself for an inevitable battle. Her shoulder was still hurting quite a bit and her knees were starting to flare up. Stupid arthritis. She rolled her shoulders to make sure everything was in place and ready to move around in case this got messy fast. Beakley was a tough old broad - not as tough as her and not as old as her, but it was still good to be ready.

She moved as quietly as possible towards the entrance and slowly made her way inside.

Beakley’s back was facing her as she entered the kitchen. But this was  _ Beakley _ \- when someone was nearby, she knew it. No need to try and scare her.

“Twenty-Two.”

“O’Gilt.”

Goldie crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“You’ve been wandering around the manor for over two hours,” Beakley said as she continued chopping vegetables. “I’ve known you were here since -  _ peh _ \- Duckworth informed me.”

“Oh.” Goldie stood up straight and rubbed her arm. That was embarrassing, but she couldn’t let it get to her. At least she wasn’t being attacked. “I assume he told you why I’m here.”

“You’re here for Mr. McDuck, according to you,” Beakley answered curtly. “I know you’re actually here to steal something, but go ahead and continue your charade for all I care.”

“It’s not a  _ charade _ ,” Goldie said, mocking Beakley’s accent. She walked over and leaned against the counter, looking at the vegetables and the very sharp knife being used to cut them. “He’s just been very difficult to find today, is all.”

“Perhaps that’s on purpose,” Beakley said as she shoved the chopped carrot to the side and grabbed another one. “Have you considered the possibility that after all these years he’s finally done with your attitude and lack of respect and complete insincerity when it comes to his feelings and he just doesn’t want to see you anymore?”

Goldie ignored the trite analysis and continued to stare at Beakley's knife movements, noticing a definite increase in roughness as she spoke. “No need for jealousy, Bentina.”

The housekeeper struggled to hold back a noise of disgust that Goldie found absolutely hilarious. “Not in the _least,_ ” she added. “Your bad taste does not influence the rest of womankind.”

The blonde chuckled and leaned fully on one hand, elbow propped up on the counter. “I’ll have you know he was  _ very _ cute back in the day.”

Beakley finally stopped and turned to Goldie, glaring at her. She pointed out of the kitchen door, where a giant portrait of a younger Scrooge was visible on the far wall. “Not a day goes by that I’m not reminded of what he looked like  _ back in the day. _ ”

Goldie smirked at the portrait and chuckled. “It’s different in person. He was just...it’s different.”

“How cute.”

“Speaking of cute, your granddaughter is very feisty, you know that?” Goldie picked herself up to sit on the counter.

Beakley held the knife tightly and pointed it at her. “Get  _ down. _ And stay away from her, she doesn’t need anything from you.”

Goldie didn’t move. “Oh, really? She was asking me  _ all _ kinds of questions. Seems like there’s a lot she wanted from me that her dear ol' grandmother can’t help her with.”

The knife got closer to her chest. “ _ Down. _ ”

In her head, she tried to balance the scales of her own pride versus her lack of interest in getting stabbed. Hmm. Hmmmmmmm.

Goldie hopped back down and leaned against the counter again. Beakley looked genuinely surprised before going back to chopping.

“I’ve raised Webbigail well enough to know not to trust a word you say.”

“Naturally,” Goldie chuckled. “So...Scrooge?”

Beakley shrugged. “I wasn’t kidding before. If he wanted you to find him, I’m certain you would’ve found him by now. He’s got security cameras in every hallway, after all.”

The blonde pushed herself off the counter and walked to the fridge, opening it up and looking at what was inside. There was an unopened water bottle waiting for her to take. “Well, I’m not leaving until I see him, so you might as well just tell me.”

“Della mentioned you were planning to stay for dinner for some godforsaken reason - is that why? And put that back!”

Goldie closed the fridge and uncapped the water bottle, taking a long sip. A half-second later and there was a knife jabbed into the side of the fridge next to her head.

“Kind of aggressive, don’t you think?”

“Is it even possible for you to ask before taking something? Is it a biological impossibility or are you just  _ so _ frustratingly consistent that you feel like you have to act this way?”

Goldie took another sip, grabbing the knife and tossing it back at Beakley who caught it between two fingers with ease. “Interesting question. I’ll answer if you tell me where Scrooge is.”

That carrot was done. Beakley moved on to the next one. Cooking for so many people seemed like a hassle. “No, I don’t think I will.”

“And of course, you’re the only person who actually knows where he is.”

“That’s likely true.”

Goldie took several big gulps of water. “This house is too huge and ridiculous. I just want to see him - is that such a big deal? If he doesn’t want to see me,  _ fine, _ I’ll be out of his feathers soon enough. But I came all the way here so I’m going to find him even if I have to wait for him to come down for your dumb family dinner.”

Beakley responded with a low hum. Goldie glared at her.

“And if I’m waiting, I guess I’ll wait here with  _ you _ , Bentina!” She smiled brightly and finished off the water bottle, tossing it onto the floor.

The chopping stopped. In that moment, the air became frozen and stiff - like something bad was about to happen. Something very, _ very  _ bad. Goldie felt some of her arm feathers standing up straight in anticipation. Maybe she’d just made a mistake, but pettiness towards the housekeeper was worth any price. (Okay, not any price. She had her limits.)

Fortunately (or unfortunately?), Beakley just leaned over and picked up the bottle, tossing it into the proper bin. She was suspiciously calm about this entire situation. “Wouldn’t you rather be annoying Louie again?”

“Annoying? I think he likes talking to me.”

“I’m not surprised you think that.”

Goldie rolled her eyes and stepped forward to the center of the kitchen, just standing there and looking around. She knew how much Beakley hated her, but it was almost funny the efforts she was going to make her seem entirely unwelcome by everyone in the house. Maybe she was right, but it’s not like Goldie spent her time trying to get people to like her. “So what would you do if I married Scrooge and moved in here? You’d have to deal with me  _ every single day. _ ”

Chop chop chop. “I don’t have to worry about that because I know you’ll never do it.”

“Heh,” Goldie chuckled and pushed some of her hair back. “When you’re right, you’re right.” She felt an uncomfortable sadness creep at the corners of her mind and frowned, not sure what the issue could be. The housekeeper didn’t say anything that she didn’t already know.

She turned back towards Beakley only to see her staring directly at her, looking angry and a bit concerned. Goldie shook off her immediate embarrassment at having been seen in a slightly vulnerable mindset and walked over to the counter again.

Beakley was still staring at her.

“What?”

“What exactly are your intentions with Mr. McDuck when you find him?”

“Pfft,” Goldie almost laughed. “My  _ intentions? _ Besides a quick roll in the hay -”

“Ugh.”

“...it’s just been a while since we last talked.” Goldie poked a finger against the countertop and slid it around in a small circle. “I wanted to catch up. Let him talk about some adventure and then I’d tell him about my much better adventures.”

There was silence for a few moments as Goldie continued to slide her finger around. "Maybe he'll start reminiscing and we'll just talk about the past for a few hours while doing absolutely nothing. And he'd ask me to stay a while and I'll pretend to consider it but leave while he's sleeping anyway,” she finished with a shrug.

She didn't need to look up to know that Beakley was staring at her again. It was embarrassing, but a normal consequence of rambling like a lovestruck teen. Quackfaster was still wrong about her, of course, but after how her day was going...

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you almost sounded sincere."

Goldie hummed softly. "Almost."

They fell into silence. An odd, almost companionable silence where it didn't feel like either woman was planning to hurt the other. Goldie didn't see how it would benefit her and Bentina was both too busy getting dinner ready and, against her better judgement, considering the possibility that Goldie should stay for the evening.

"...so what’s going on? An anniversary of some sort?" Beakley asked suddenly.

Goldie blinked at her. "I already told Duckworth it's not anything."

"And he told me as much. But I don't believe you." Beakley had moved on to the celery. "You're both being very nostalgic today."

"I'm…" Goldie blushed a bit, knowing Beakley wasn't wrong about her wistfulness, and reached over to grab a piece of chopped carrot, popping it in her mouth. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

The housekeeper contained the urge to slap Goldie's thieving little hand and sighed loudly instead. 

"He's in his treasure room."

Goldie's eyes widened and she looked at Bentina with suspicious curiosity. She didn’t appreciate being lied to, especially not such an obvious lie. "I already checked there."

"Not  _ that _ treasure room," Beakley said with a groan. "He's in the  _ Klondike Room. _ "


	10. The Klondike Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god I think she found him finally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a lot of comic references in these next chapters. Nothing that couldn't fit into DT17 canon, so I’ll quickly summarize for context: 
> 
> Scrooge and Goldie met in Dawson during the Klondike Gold Rush. She drugged him and stole his giant gold nugget. As punishment, he took her to his claim and made her work for him digging gold. Goldie stayed because she wanted to steal Scrooge’s lock box which contained the deed to his property, the giant gold nugget, and (unknown to her) a lock of Goldie’s hair that was cut off in a scuffle with a bear. They went their separate ways after falling in love and not wanting to admit it to each other. (‘Prisoner of White Agony Creek’)
> 
> Two years later, Scrooge made his first million dollars and decided to go back to Dawson to settle down. He went back to his claim in White Agony and grabbed his old stuff, then wrote Goldie a letter and bought her a box of chocolates. He lost them on the trip to Dawson and decided that trying to settle down was bad for him and he should just keep working instead. Fifty years later he found his stuff and she finally read the letter, but nothing came of it. (‘Last Sled to Dawson’)

Beakley gave her directions to the right spot. How had she gone all these years unaware of a  _ Klondike Room _ ? Maybe she wouldn't have anything to steal from there, but it'd be nice to explore and enjoy the nostalgia. And hell, maybe there  _ was _ something to steal. A goose-egg sized gold nugget, perhaps.

The path she was going in took her towards the Other Bin, which Scrooge thought was a secret, but Goldie had been there more than a few times to borrow certain mystical items and even stored some of her own there. Having Scrooge keep them safe was much easier than trying to build her own magically fortified bin.

And it was kind of nice to have things of hers in his home. A bit more meaningful than a toothbrush, at least.

She could see the room that led to the Other Bin down the hall, and the one Beakley had mentioned should be just a few doors further. Goldie took a moment to peek inside and took note that the room was still as junked up as always. A housekeeper  _ and _ a ghost butler, but Scrooge still managed to have rooms that looked that bad.

Four more doors and Goldie wondered if this was an elaborate, annoying prank Bentina was playing on her as revenge for...well, a lot of things. Didn’t seem like her style. But she supposed it didn’t matter, she was checking the room either way.

Opening the door as quietly as possible, Goldie’s eyes widened at the display in front of her. The room was chilly, but filled with some very familiar pieces of furniture. It felt like a cabin. Scratch that, it felt like  _ the _ cabin. _His_ cabin.

On the other side of the room, she  _ (finally! _ ) saw Scrooge - wearing his old coat and even older hat - sitting with his back to her on the edge of a bed (and based on how it looked, she was pretty sure that was  _ the _ bed), looking into a little lock box on his lap.

Of course, it was  _ the _ box, too. Walking into this room felt like walking into a time machine. And she wanted to say something clever and cute. Some reference to their first meeting or something that would send a shiver down his spine.

Instead, she simply said, “Hey, Handsome.”

Scrooge didn’t react right away, then slowly closed the box and put it to his side before turning around to look at her. “Goldie, Dear, I wondered when you’d find me.”

She closed the door and walked over to the bed, taking a seat on the other side. “So you  _ did _ know I was here.”

“Aye, Gyro sent me a message about it a few hours ago.”

Goldie turned to him and scoffed. “It has  _ not _ been that long!”

He just smiled at her and she felt her heart beat faster. Damn that man. She wanted to yell at him for all the trouble she'd gone through, but one look at the space made all her complaints melt away. Clearly there was something more important going on.

“So...how didn’t I know about this?” she asked, stretching out her arms and emphasizing the room.

“You never asked,” he responded with a shrug, moving the box down to the floor and under the bed.

Goldie fell back and spread out her limbs all over the mattress, sighing at the familiar creaks and groans of the old, worn thing. “I can’t believe we slept on this.”

“Don’t complain - you only slept on it for a month,” Scrooge said as he laid down next to her. “Feels terrible, doesn’t it?”

“Hmm,” she hummed, turning to the side so she was looking at him. “It could be worse.”

They stayed silent for a minute while Goldie stuck her hand out and started playing with his whiskers, enjoying the smile and blush that graced his face while she did.

“Seems like you talked to the whole family today.”

“Mhmm.” She kept playing with his feathers while she answered. “Everyone wanted to harass me about not marrying you.”

His face got a little redder. “I didn’t ask them to.”

“I know. You didn’t ask  _ me _ to, either.”

Scrooge’s eyes darted around the room in a clear attempt to avoid looking at her until he sat up and cleared his throat, cheeks still very colorful. “Um...not in so many words, but…”

Goldie leaned on her arms and watched him, smiling and enjoying his nervousness. Together on-and-off for one hundred and twenty years and he still got like this around her. It was so adorable it bordered on annoying, but she loved it nonetheless.

She sat up next to him and planted a hand flat on his chest, leaning over and kissing his cheek. “I’m just kidding, Scroogey.”

He laughed awkwardly and tugged at his collar, not wanting to continue that specific line of conversation. He started playing with his hands and his eyes darted towards the side of the bed where he’d hidden the lock box.

Goldie smirked. “You know I already know what’s in there. If you think I’ll be weirded out about the hair, you’re a century too late.”

“Ach,” Scrooge grumbled and shrugged her hand off. “It’s not that. Being in here with you...it just brings me back. I feel like you could take the nugget any second.”

“Well I certainly could, if you’d like to chase me down,” she said smugly, started to crawl past him to the other side of the bed.

Scrooge quickly grabbed her wrists and roughly pulled her back to where she was before. “Not on your life, you heisting harpy!”

Goldie winced momentarily as her shoulder stung, but shook it off before he could notice. She smiled and leaned closer, nuzzling her beak under his. “So what  _ are _ you doing in here, Scrooge? I've been looking for you everywhere."

“Oh, I heard,” he said with a chuckle, letting go of her wrists. “Duckworth stopped by a few times to tell me if you’d gotten close.” He laughed harder at Goldie’s irritated expression. “I cannae believe you went and asked  _ Beakley _ for help!”

Goldie groaned and shoved her side into his, trying and failing to seem annoyed. “You’re such a lousy old sourdough.”

He shoved her back. “And yet, here you are.”

“Here I am.” She leaned her head onto his shoulder and stared at the furniture set up in front of them - it was his old table and chair set. She was pretty sure the pan she cooked him eggs and bacon in was there, too.

He sighed and leaned his head on top of hers. She could hear his heart beating faster at the contact.

“So…” she mumbled softly. “Why _are_ you in here?”

There was a few seconds of silence before he finally answered. “...you’ll just make fun of me for bein’ sentimental.”

“That’s probably true, but my curiosity stands.” She scooted herself around him so she’d be facing him directly. “I don’t remember today being special for us, but your staff seems to think it is.”

“It’s not special for you,” he said with a shrug, not looking at her. “Just for me.”

“...why’s that?”

He blushed again and she raised an eyebrow. “Scroogey, just tell me. I promise not to make fun of you. For at least an entire minute.”

“It’s nothin’ ridiculous,” Scrooge grumbled. “It’s just...it’s an anniversary. Of me...buyin’ somethin’. For you.”

She gave him a curious expression. “That’s what all this embarrassment is about? I don’t remember you getting me anything.”

“I never gave it to you,” he answered with a shrug. “Lost it in an ice storm.”

Goldie huffed and put her hands on his cheeks, forcing Scrooge to make eye contact with her. “What was it?”

He put his hands over hers. “It was just a stupid box of chocolates.”

She smiled. “How romantic.”

“I suppose.”

“Do you spend the day in here for every mundane anniversary?” Goldie said with a smile as she pulled away, moving to the edge of the bed. “At your age, I’m surprised every day of the year isn’t reminiscent of something or other.”

“What about you?” he asked, genuinely curious. “You’re goin' to pretend you don’t have a million things to celebrate?”

Goldie stood up and chuckled. “Of course I do. I always visit you on the day we first met.”

“And you always steal somethin' gold.”

She turned her head to give him a sultry look. “Would you expect anything else?”

He stood up behind her and let his hands drift to her hips. “From you? Never.”

Goldie spun around and ignored the sparkle in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m glad I came today. I always enjoy when you’re nostalgic and this room really takes the cake.”

Scrooge pulled her a little closer. “Oh? Even with my family bothering you all day?” He smirked. “Don’t tell me ol’ Glitterin’ Goldie is startin’ to enjoy domestic life…”

She just hummed softly for a moment before closing the gap between them and pressing her beak to his very gently, gliding her left hand from the back of his head to his whiskers so she could play with them a bit more. She pulled away after a few seconds. “I think I could deal with this every once in a while.”

He broke out into a huge grin and leaned over to peck her beak quickly before squeezing her tight around her middle, lifting her up, and spinning her around.

“Whoa,  _ hey! _ ” she squeaked as she held onto his shoulders. “Watch your back, Old Man!”

Scrooge laughed as he lost his balance and they both fell back onto the bed - Goldie dizzy on her back and Scrooge winded on top of her. It only took a few seconds before Goldie started laughing with him and then they kissed again, losing themselves in the moment and the memories.

A few minutes later and they were back to where they started - laying on the familiar bed and staring at each other.

“Any chance you’re really plannin’ to stay for dinner?”

Goldie huffed and held back a laugh. “Come on, Scroogey. No one besides you and Della want me taking up a seat at that table. And she’s probably on the fence about it still.”

He reached over and grabbed her hand, holding it in front of his chest. “Just come anyway. I have a feelin’ we’ll just be talkin’ about you whether you’re there or not. Might as well come and defend yourself.”

She laughed again and tugged her hand out of his grasp. “Well with an offer like that, how can a girl refuse?”


	11. The Desk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She found what she was looking for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading and enjoying this fic!! I had so much fun writing it and I've never gotten so many comments before lol so that's exciting. I'm sorry it's over but I hope y'all enjoy the ending

Dinner wasn’t a disaster. No, disaster would not be the right word to describe how it went. It was _weird_. It was...not terrible, but not good. Scrooge’s face was redder than the tomatoes on his plate when the kids were finished asking questions. Goldie had to admit some of their questions had her blushing as well, but at least she knew to just keep sipping her wine instead of trying to answer.

Kids were nosy; they asked a lot of questions. And there were just _so_ many of them. Each one with their own questions. Well, except for Sharpie, who was content in watching the old people sweat. Little sadist.

At least the food was good. But Goldie would never tell Beakley that. _Never._

After dinner, most of the family went off to the living room to watch a movie. Scrooge started to complain about the quality of modern movies and how he hadn’t seen one since the 30s, but when Pink and her two little friends specifically asked Goldie to join them, Scrooge got a bit twitchy and followed everyone to the couch. He was a paranoid old man, that much was true. How was she supposed to steal while stuck on the couch surrounded by the whole family?

She was embarrassed when the girls all sat around her on the couch - she sort of anticipated sitting with Scrooge, but was ambushed by them and suddenly there were rugrats no matter where she looked. The De Spell kid seemed to have a protective arm around Pink and the hummingbird was sitting on the couch’s armrest and taking notes. About what, Goldie had no idea.

Sharpie sat on the floor with his brothers, but he was next to her feet and she felt a weird sort of instinct to pick him up and put him on her lap. Like hell that was going to happen - she shook it off almost as quickly as the urge appeared and tried to get comfortable so they could watch whatever the hell kid-friendly baby movie they’d picked out.

(Oddly enough, they picked a movie she and Scrooge had both seen before. Since when do kids like black and white movies?)

About twenty minutes in, she managed to sneak away from the group. Said she had to use the bathroom, but really she just needed a break from being surrounded by so many people.

Scrooge had watched her carefully as she walked away - she was sure he knew she wasn’t headed towards a bathroom and probably had Duckworth following her. To make sure no one was on her tail, she stepped into a water closet and shut the door for a minute, hoping to remove any suspicion. Then she snuck back out and quietly creeped towards the entrance to the Other Bin.

Tempting, but she had other things in mind.

Back in the Klondike Room, Goldie’s spine tingled at the chilly temperature and she quietly closed the door behind her. In less than a second, she launched herself across the bed to reach underneath and grab the lock box from earlier.

A quick flick and turn of a bobby pin from her hair and it was open without a hitch. She didn’t understand why Scrooge bothered with locks when she was the only one who was going after the treasure - they didn’t even slow her down.

She slowly lifted up the lid in anticipation, eyes glowing from the gold of the familiar nugget.

Three folded up pieces of paper and the gold nugget. The nugget distracted her - she scooped it up and just felt the weight of it in her hand. A moment later and she opened up the papers - deed, another deed, and a lock of her hair. It was still tied up in the same little ribbon it’d been tied up in over a hundred years prior, and though she still thought it was kind of weird that he kept it, a warmth spread throughout her chest. Especially knowing that just earlier that day, he was staring at it and thinking of her. How long had he been sitting there? She blushed the tiniest bit just thinking about him...thinking about her.

She frowned and looked at everything laid out on the bed. These were all things she already knew about; nothing new, nothing scandalous. Nothing for Scrooge to get all secretive about. Goldie grabbed the lock box and attempted to push and prod at every corner and angle in case Scrooge had added a secret compartment, but no. It was just the same old box as she remembered.

So Goldie put everything back in and shoved the box where it was before. She considered going back to the movie for a minute, but then remembered one other thing she wanted to check out.

As she made her way towards the stairs, Scrooge was just exiting the living room, clearly looking for her. He gave her a cross look and raised an eyebrow.

“What’re you doin’, O’Gilt?”

She smiled and walked closer to him, getting right up in his face. “No need to be suspicious, Scroogey, I was just admiring your decor on my way back.”

“Oh, sure,” he said with a scoff. “And I’m sure you didnae take anythin’ while you were alone.”

Goldie chuckled and grabbed his hands, dramatically shoving them into her pockets. “Check for yourself, Rich Boy.”

His face was red and he grumbled something about her being inappropriate, but he _did_ shuffle through her pockets and even moved his hands to her back pockets as well - earning a completely predictable retort of, “Who’s the one being inappropriate _now?_ ”

Scrooge removed his hands and held his ground - no way was he going to apologize when they both knew his suspicions were justified. “Look, Goldie, if you don’t want to watch the movie, we could go somewhere else.”

“No, it’s fine,” Goldie said with a shrug, trying to think of how to get Scrooge out of her way so she could get back on her little treasure hunt. A moment later, she came up with an idea so bright she could practically see that weird little walking lightbulb again. “Though, since you mention it, there’s one place I’d _love_ to go.”

“Oh? Where’s that?”

“ _Goldieburg._ ”

He froze, cheeks turning bright red. “I-...you-....what?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you?” she said with an obnoxiously innocent act. “I was in your office earlier when the oldest man I’ve _ever_ spoken to rang. He was so upset that his ungrateful son hadn’t called his mommy.”

Scrooge’s face could not have been redder. “You-...you talked to my...parents?”

“For a minute.” She felt a malicious smile grace her face at Scrooge’s embarrassment. Good thing her parents were long gone. “They were very excited to hear from their little boy’s _wee burd_.”

If at all possible, Scrooge blushed harder, and he finally shook it off and shoved Goldie to the side to head up the stairs. “As soon as I’m done with this, I’m gettin’ rid of that phone!”

He didn’t even pay attention to Goldie as he ascended the stairs, heading in the opposite direction of where she needed to go. She smirked and waited another minute before continuing her path from earlier.

She flew up the stairs as quickly and quietly as possible, not wanting Scrooge to hear her and not knowing if Duckworth was still around to stop her. She had to admit, it was likely that whatever the ghost didn’t want her to see earlier in the day had absolutely nothing to do with Scrooge’s little anniversary gift, but she needed to check for herself. How could she have gotten as far as she had in life if she just trusted everything Scrooge McDuck said?

His bedroom door was slightly ajar, and she suspiciously looked around the room as she entered. No one was there, but Duckworth could appear at any time, so she needed to stay alert.

She kept her back to the wall and slid over towards the desk. There were a lot of drawers to unlock and she had no way of knowing which one contained whatever was being hidden from her. Or maybe it was multiple.

Either way, she sat down in his big chair, grabbed the same bobby pin from earlier, and went to work.

The first drawer she opened - top-left, of course - was just miscellaneous odds and ends. Stapler, pens, paperclips. Office supplies. Goldie dug around just in case, but it seemed to be a perfectly boring drawer. The fact that Scrooge had it locked was baffling to her - was he worried the kids would do an art project?

She shook her head and moved down to bottom-left. The lock was a little bit different, which probably meant each drawer had its own key. What kind of madman was he? At her own office she only had one locked drawer and she barely used it. Any smart swindler knew the safest place to keep something was on your person.

Scrooge knew that about his half of the Golden Lagoon map, but she supposed he didn't have enough pockets for all of his nonsense.

That drawer was filled with papers. A hodgepodge of papers - different sizes, colors, and importance. She was shocked at the lack of organization when she saw what was clearly one of Donald's drawings he did as a child next to the purchasing paperwork for some apartment complex in downtown Duckburg. Did he even know where this was?

She dug through again, but already knew she'd be coming up with squat.

Bottom-right, then.

It wasn't like she expected to find an ancient box of chocolates in the desk - or even a new box of chocolates, for that matter. She just felt like chocolate wasn't enough. Scrooge was acting too nervous and too ridiculous, she knew there _had_ to be something else for her.

Inside the bottom-right drawer were some three-ring binders. She grabbed one and looked at the cover only to see it said FAMILY PHOTOS (2000-2020). She sighed and grabbed another one. Similar title, different set of dates.

Curious, Goldie flipped one open and skimmed through the pages. Donald and Della looked so different back when they were kids, but...somehow they looked exactly the same. She flipped through a couple more pages and was about to put the book down when she saw a familiar flash of blonde.

Her eyes darted to that photo and the photos around it. She did _not_ expect to have an appearance in Scrooge's little family albums.

One of the photos with her in it was particularly nice, she had to admit. She and Scrooge were sitting next to each other on a large swing under an even larger tree. She didn't remember that day very well, but she remembered leaving after a few hours when she realized she was having a too nice of a time.

Goldie snatched that photo out of the album and stuffed it in her pocket before putting the binders back. She doubted some old photos were what Scrooge was hiding from her, but if she didn't find anything else, then she'd come back to it and skim through some more.

Top-right time. Assuming there weren't any secret drawers or false bottoms, she only had this and the middle drawer left. But the middle drawer was too small and thin to contain anything of note.

She felt her heart racing as she finished unlocking top-right, fully prepared to finally find whatever it was Scrooge didn't want her to see. She tugged it open and…

Keys?

Goldie frowned and stuck her hand in, shuffling around and checking for signs of hidden compartments. But her hand hit what was clearly the real bottom, and this drawer seemed to just be filled with keys. So, _so_ many keys.

She frowned deeper as she realized the reason Duckworth chased her away was probably just because of this. Perhaps there was no special treasure Scrooge was hiding from her and this was just about preventing even more theft than she'd already stolen.

Goldie sighed and looked at the last drawer. She had a feeling it would just be push pins and packs of sticky notes for Old Mr. McBusiness, but she pried it open anyway.

For the most part, she was right. Office supplies again, and to her surprise there was even a backup pair of spectacles. She never considered Scrooge as someone to own backups of anything.

Next to the office supplies, there was a simple white envelope. With the label down, Goldie almost ignored it. But there was clearly an age to the paper - it was yellowish and looked fairly damaged from water and other elements.

Hesitantly, Goldie grabbed the envelope and flipped it around.

Her name was printed right on the front, in Scrooge's familiar handwriting. She felt her heart stop and she reached out her free hand to touch the ink, which dissolved under her touch, really showing its age.

She could feel how sensitive the paper of the envelope was and knew this would have to be a careful operation. Whether or not she wanted Scrooge to know she'd seen this had yet to be decided.

Slowly, Goldie opened up the envelope and tugged out the letter that was inside. She was embarrassed to admit to herself that she felt nervous. She had absolutely no idea what could be in this letter. It really all depended on when he wrote it.

Obviously it was after their first encounter, and based on the age, she figured it was probably before they went to Uluru. But that didn't give her much of a clue - they went on a lot of adventures together during those decades.

With a deep breath, Goldie opened the letter and started to read.

In less than two sentences, her eyes were sparkling and a bit watery, though she quickly wiped that away. This was definitely what he'd been keeping from her. What Duckworth didn't want her to see. What Scrooge definitely, absolutely, positively did not want her to read.

She cursed their younger selves for just a moment and considered how things could've been different had she seen this letter back then.

A moment later and Goldie was startled by a noise behind her. She turned her head in anticipation of an angry ghost, but instead there was Scrooge, standing in front of the door and smiling sadly at her.

She blushed. "I guess you caught me, huh?"

Scrooge hobbled over and breathed out a short laugh. “I’m just happy you’re still here. When the kids said you never came back, I figured you left.”

“Well...that’s understandable,” she said, turning back around and shoving the letter back in its envelope. She wasn’t sure if he saw her holding it and she wasn’t sure what to say to him about it.

“Duckworth mentioned you’d been trying to get into my desk earlier,” Scrooge said with a nonchalant shrug. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Goldie didn’t turn to him just yet, staring down at the envelope in her hands. She wanted to bring it up, but she didn’t know where that conversation would lead other than...places she wasn’t sure she wanted to go. It was from _so_ long ago.

“Goldie?”

With a deep breath, she spun the chair and made sure Scrooge could clearly see what was in her hands.

He didn’t even flinch, though there was a light color on his cheeks that paired well with his smile. “Did you read it?”

Goldie played with the envelope, still staring down at it. “I did.”

“Ah.” Scrooge tapped against his cane. He took a few steps closer to her, but didn’t cross the room quite yet.

“Was this supposed to come with the chocolates?”

Scrooge chuckled and took off his hat, holding it to his chest and rubbing his thumb on the rim. “It was.”

Goldie stood up and closed the distance between them, stopping just in front of the top of his hat. “You said you lost them in an ice storm.”

“I did,” Scrooge said quickly. “But I got them back a few decades ago.”

“And you didn’t show me.”

“What would that have accomplished? I knew it was too late the next time I saw you.” Scrooge huffed and stared down at the envelope in her hands. “You were well out of Dawson already.”

“That’s true. I haven’t really settled in one place since then.” Goldie sighed again and tossed the envelope onto his bed. “But...I don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?”

“Maybe...maybe I would’ve said yes,” she finished her thought and finally looked up to lock eyes with him again, a deep blush on her cheeks.

Scrooge’s eyes sparkled and he sighed dreamily before freezing completely and then looking down at his hat. He glanced up at her and then down at the hat again.

“What’s wrong?”

He cleared his throat and avoided her gaze once again. “The chocolates may not have been the only thing I bought for you that day.”

She blinked a few times in shock at his confession. “Okay…”

“There was, um. One other thing.”

Her mind was reeling over the possibilities, though based on the content of the letter and his embarrassment throughout the day...one particular thought shone brightest. But the Scrooge of today wasn’t the same as the King of the Klondike. He wasn’t just frugal back then, he wouldn’t buy anything unless it was an absolute necessity. He wouldn’t buy...well. She hadn’t even thought he would buy chocolates for a pretty girl. Maybe he was full of surprises.

Scrooge tossed his cane to the side and stuck his hand into his top hat and shuffled around for a moment before stopping and then slowly pulling his arm back out. He tossed the hat towards his fallen cane and loudly exhaled before reaching down and grabbing Goldie’s left hand.

“What are you…-”

“Goldie, we’ve known each other a long time,” Scrooge started, hoping to whatever-was-out-there that she wouldn’t interrupt him. “And like you’ve said many times before, we’ve made countless mistakes.”

He took another deep breath. “When we were young again and you said you wanted to try startin’ over, changin’ things, fixin’ what we did wrong...there was one particular moment that came to mind. When I lost my sled with the letter and the chocolates, I still could’ve gone to Dawson. I could’ve just come with the shirt on my back and said my piece.

“But I felt like I couldn’t. That'd been one of the luckiest years of my life until I tried to get back to you and I thought that meant you were just bad luck. Losin’ that sled was a sign that I had to get back to work instead of going back to you.”

Goldie stayed silent - though she had a million comments to make, she could see from the look on his face that this wasn’t the time to make them.

“What I wanted to do back then, er…” Scrooge hesitated and looked down at his hand holding hers. “What I wanted to ask back then…”

He looked up and they locked eyes, both red in the face and sparkling. Scrooge opened his free hand to reveal a small, simple ring in his palm.

Goldie stared at the ring like it was something foreign. She knew what it meant, she knew exactly what he was saying and what he almost said to her so long ago. She picked it up and inspected it carefully, noting the simplicity and lack of any gems - there were no diamonds or rubies or pearls. It was engraved with a gorgeous Celtic carving, but was otherwise just a gold band.

She looked back at him, who was staring expectantly and starting to look nervous. She smiled sadly and curled her fingers around the ring, pressing it into her palm.

“Scrooge...you know I...I don’t -” Goldie felt herself hesitate. She wanted to just say yes and throw her arms around him, but it just didn’t feel right. Not with her. She wasn't ready...maybe she wouldn't ever be ready. The ring felt like it was burning through her skin - it wasn't painful, but there was an ache in her chest while she looked down at it. “You know this kind of thing just isn't me."

“I know, dear,” Scrooge said softly, the expression on his face unchanging. “I’m not askin’ you to marry me, but...that ring was only ever meant for you. I want you to have it.”

She felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes and quickly wiped them away, not wanting him to see. “I can’t believe you actually bought this.”

“It’s made from some of the gold nuggets you dug up while workin’ my claim.”

Goldie stared up at him in surprise, then back down at the ring, which suddenly felt lighter. Had she ever wanted to kiss him as much as she did in that moment? Her head started to feel funny - like she was laying on a cloud. She locked eyes with him again.

“I love you.”

Scrooge was breathless for only a moment, then simply smiled back at her - reveling in the moment and hoping it’d never end.

Goldie slid the ring onto her finger before she could stop herself. The burning sensation had stopped, and the dull ache from earlier was replaced by her heart pounding wildly as she stared at her hand. “It’s absolutely gorgeous. I never knew you had such good taste."

Scrooge grabbed her hand again and stared at the ring on her finger, rubbing his thumb on it and chuckling after a few seconds.

“What’s so funny?” Goldie asked, leaning her face closer to his.

“It took me a century to get a ring on your finger, Goldie Girl,” he answered softly, leaning in. “I never realized it’d feel this good.”

She pressed her beak against his and moved her free hand to the back of his head. “I can think of something that would feel even better…”

Scrooge kissed her back for a moment, but pulled away and laughed awkwardly. “I know I’m gonna regret this, but...would you come back down with me? Finish the movie...spend a little more time with my family before bed?”

Goldie hummed and rolled her eyes. “You’ve asked _so_ much of me today and I’ve been surprisingly accommodating.”

“You have.”

“And yet still you ask for more.”

He just smiled at her - a familiar look of admiration that both frustrated her and made her cheeks light up.

Her hand moved around his head and she let her pointer finger slide under his beak, stopping at the tip. “...alright.”

His eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really.” She pecked his beak one more time. “But I’m sitting on your lap for the rest of the movie. I wanna see how much PDA Beakley can take before she snaps.”

Scrooge smiled and his eyes sparkled again, squeezing her hand tighter and desperately enjoying the feeling of metal between their fingers. “You’re a devil of a woman.”

Goldie rushed out of the bedroom - Scrooge being dragged along by their connected hands, and she tried to deny the feeling of joy when she spotted some of the kids waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.

“I told you she was still here,” Sharpie said, taking a sip of his Pep and walking back to the living room.

Dewey let out a _WHOOP!_ and pumped his fist in the air before following his brother while Donald, Huey, and Webby stood there and waited for the two lovebirds to reach the ground floor.

“Are you good…?” Donald asked Scrooge, clearly nervous as to what the answer might be. Yes or no could be equally disastrous.

Scrooge gave him a good slap on the shoulder. “Never better, Nephew! Let’s head back before the film ends!”

He, Goldie, and Donald made their way back towards the living room, but Webby and Huey trailed from behind and stared. Specifically, Webby stared directly at the old couple's locked hands, which felt...different. She couldn’t contain the feeling that something was being purposefully hidden from them.

She looked at Huey, who followed her line of sight with a raised eyebrow. He leaned to the side and angled his view to get a better look. Webby followed suit.

Only a second later did they both catch a glimpse of gold and they simultaneously gasped, covering their respective beaks to avoid screaming.

The three adults turned to them in confusion.

“What’s wrong?” Scrooge asked.

The kid’s eyes darted between Scrooge and his hand and then to each other, where they came to a silent conclusion.

“N-Nothing! It’s nothing!” Webby finally squeaked out, Huey nodding excessively next to her.

Though a little confused, the adults seemed satisfied with that and continued walking to the living room. Webby and Huey locked eyes again and once the others were out of the foyer, Webby started tapping her feet and Huey flapped his arms in excitement.

“What does this mean?!” Webby whispered as loudly as possible.

“I don’t know, I don’t know!” Huey squeezed his fists and held them close to his chest. “I’ve always wanted to plan a wedding!”

They clasped their hands together and danced around for a few seconds before Beakley popped her head into the foyer and stared at them.

“Are you two coming? It’s ending soon.”

Webby spun around and did some cartwheels towards her grandmother while Huey walked normally behind her. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

Huey sighed dreamily, leaning his cheek against his locked hands. “I’m just glad there’s a happy ending!”

Beakley stared curiously at the two children and shrugged. She didn't realize they'd seen the movie before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yea. "Avoid the unhappy ending" is a quote from Jack London who was a novelist that both wrote about the Klondike Gold Rush but also lived there at the same time as Scrooge and Goldie. Thought it was cheesy but nice.


End file.
